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DY    ftq58      C53   A48    1890 
irelbnerian  Church   in  the 
U  si.    presbytery  of 

Tre^bft^lianil!^"^^^  °^'' 


V 


;;^^^p«  -  ...»«o^;« 


One  Hundred  Years 


JUL  15  1919 


OF 


PRESBYTERIANISM 


FIRST  PRESByXERlAN  CHURCH,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 

First  House  of  Worships  erected  1792. 


IN    THE 


OHIO  VALLEY. 


:»»«W*««<»«M 


CINCINNATI,    OHIO. 

1890. 


UL  15  191 


t)NE  Hundred  Years^*^*^ 


OF 


Presbyterianism 


IN    THE 


OHIO   VALLEY 


CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 

isyo. 


The  following  invitation  and  program  of  exercises  for  the 
Centennial  celebration  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  Ohio  \'alley 
was  issued  and  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  committees 
from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  ().,  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Pleasant  Ridge,  ().,  and  the  Presbytery  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  as  follows  : 

First  Presbyterian  Chiirch,       The  Presbyterian  Chiircli, 

CiNCiNN-ATi,  Ohio.  Pleasant  Riix.e,  Ohio. 

Rf.v,  Hugh  Gilchrisi.  Rkv.  J.  H.   Waiikk. 

Mr.   William  McAlpin.  Mr.  II.   C.   Dlrrell. 

Dr.  Cil\ulks  \Vki!Kr.  Mr.  Ciiari.k.s  F.  Tiio.mpson, 


Presbytery  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Rev.   Huch   Gilchrist. 
Rev.  F.  C.  Monfort,  D.  D.  Rkv.  H.  P.  SMrrii,  D,  D. 

Rkv.  W.  H.  James,  D.  D.  Rev.  J.  II.  Walter. 

Mr.  James  M.  Johnsion. 

Mr.  THKoi'HiLifs  ^^'ILso^^ 


OcTOBF.R  IB,  1790.  October  16,  18<)0. 

One  Hundred  Years  of 

Presbyterianisniv^^'^'OhioValley. 

P'lUST   I'KKSm' IKKIAN  CllLKCIl,  TllE    Ph  ES  In   TEH  I  A  N  ClI  UKCII, 

Ciiin'inia/i,  Ohio.  Pleiisaiit  Iii<(s,''r,  Ohio. 


'  I  ^iii".  Fiksr  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cincinnati  and  the 
Presisv  lERiAN  Church  of  Pleasant  Ridge  were  organized 
on  the  16th  day  of  October,  1790. 

Exercises  memorial  of  that  event  are  to  be  held  conjointly 
in  the  two  houses  of  worship,  on  the  14th,  15th  and  16th  days 
of  October,  1890. 

You  are  invited  by  the  Committee  of  the  Churches  to  be 
present  and  enjoy  with  them  a  review  of  what  God  hath 
wrought   in    the    One   Hundred    Years   of   Presbyterianism    in 


tin's  region. 


Program  of  Exercises. 

FIRST  SESSION— First  Presbyterian  Church,  October  14,  2:30  p.  m. 

REV.  HUGH  GILCHRIST,  Presiding. 

History  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Rev.  F.  C.  Monfort,  D.D. 

(  The  Revival  of  1828,      .       Rev.  J.  G.  Monfort,  D.D. 

I  Early  Days,  .         .         .         .  "  Rev.  A.  S.  Dudley. 

Reminiscences:  -{  Early  Sabbath-School  Work,  Rev.  I5.W.Chidla\v,D.D. 

My  Personal  Recollections,     .    Miss  Harriet  Wilson. 

Noteworthy  Incidents,         .  Rev.  A.  J.  Reynolds. 

Social  ami  Ltiuiliroii  for  Elderly  People  hv  Hie  '■'•King^s  Datig/ih'rs." 

SECOND   SESSION— First  Presbyterian  Church,  October  14,  7:30  p.  m. 

MRS.  C.  A.  SANDIiRS,  Presiding. 

Vv'ON4AN'S   work. 

At  the  Feet  of  Jesus,  .     " Mrs.  W.  A.  Clark. 

Woman's  Work — Past  and  Present,     ....    Miss  Selina  Wood. 
History  of  the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  Cincinnati  Presbytery 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Robertson. 
History  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  of  Cincinnati  Presbytery, 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Trout. 
Women  of  the  Manse,  .....  Miss  E.  M.  Gilchrist. 

S/'eeial  Traill  far  Pleasant  Kidge   ]\'ediiesda  y  Morn  i  ng  al  U:l', 


THIRD  SESSION— Presbyterian  Church,  Pleasant  Ridge,  October  15,  loa.  m. 

RKV.  J.  H,  WAI/FER,  Pnsuhiii,'. 

History  of  the  Pleasant  Ridge  Church,  .         .         Rev.  J.  H.  Walter. 

Memories  of  the  Pastors  of  the  Church,     .         .  Rev.  \W .   S.  Acoinh. 

Memorial  of  the  Elders,  .....     Chas.  F.  Thompson. 


Liliicliri))!  hr  llie  Lcniirs  of  llir  Plcn^iinil  Riif^r,-  C/iiiri  /i. 

FOURTH  SESSION— Presbyterian  Church,  Pleasant  Ridge,  October  15,  2  p.  m. 

RE\'.  j.   H.  W'.Al.TKI!,  Prr^idimr. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

A  Sketch  of  Lane  Seminary.  .         .         .         Rev.  II.  P.  Smith,  D.I). 

Earlv  .Struggles  of  an  Educational  Institution, 

President,  Ethelbert  D.  Warfield. 
Christian  Nurture  in  Presbyterian  Families  Fifty  Years  Ago, 

Rev.  Chas.  F.  Mussey,  D.D. 
The  Past  and  Future  of  Higher  Christian  Education. 

Rev.  D.  W.  Fisher,  D.D. 

lu'Cfptiou  from  5:ii0  to  ~ :.iO  />.  m.^^^i'veii  by  the  Ladies  of  the  First  Church.  cii,i,;f 
hy  the  Missioiinry  Sorieties  of  the  Presbytery. 

FIFTH  SESSION  — First  Presbyterian  Church,  October  15,  7:30  p.  m. 

.MR.  U0B1:RT  S.  l'V\.TOy^,Presiiiiiifr. 

THE  saobath:=school. 

The  (Growth  of  the  Sabbath-.school,  .  Rev.  B.  W.  Chidlaw,  D.D. 

The  Sabbath-school  an  Aggressive  Force  in  ChurchWork,  Rob't  S.Fulton. 
The  Mission  Station  for  the  Modern  City,  .  Rev.  Peter  Robertson. 
Tiie  Church  as  Subject  to  the  Control  of  Session,  Rev.  Frank  GranstatT. 

SIXTH    SESSION— First  Presbyterian  Church,  October  i6,  10  a.  m. 

RE\'.  GEO.  M.  .MA.XWELI.,  D.I).,  Presidi/ijr, 

THE    CHURCH. 

P.oginning  at  Jerusalem,  .         .         .         Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  D.D. 

Tiie  Children"  of  the  First  Church,  .         .         Rev.  J.  J.  Francis,  D.D. 

The  Pioneer  Preacher,  ....     Rev.  C.  L.  Thompson,  D.D. 

A  Sketch  of  the  General  Assembly,  .  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Roberts,  D.D. 
A  Sketch  of  the  Cincinnati  Presbytery,       .  .  Rev.  E.  T.  Suiggett. 

NTH   SESSION— First  Presbyterian  Church,  October  16,  2:30  p.  m. 

MR.  WILEIAM    Mc.VLPIN,  Presidimr. 

THE    LAITY. 

Prominent  Men  of  the  Past,    ....         Andrew  Kemper,  M.  D. 

Ministerial  Relief, E.  R.  Monfort. 

Business  Tact  in  Church  Management,  .         .       Peter  Rudolph  Xeft'. 

The  Down-town  Church, Wm.  H.  Morgan. 

'{"tie  Ministry  of  the  Laity, D.  H.  P.aldwin. 

Soeiiil  ami  Lil inheoii  for  Laymen  and  olliers.^  by  the'- Lights  for  the  Darkness." 
fEI.K«RAirf)X    OF    THE    I.ORD's     SUI'PER,    OCTOBER    1  (),   7  :'>0   P.   M. 

Rev.  W.  McKibben,  D.D.     Rev.  E.  D.  Morris,  D.D.,  L.L.D. 


REV.    JAMES    KEMPER. 


Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Cincinnati,  O.,  1700-1790. 
Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Pleasant  Ridge,  ().,  17:JG-1S07. 


H  ISTORY 


OF    THE 


First  Presbyterian  Church. 


Rev.  F.  C.  Moxfort,  D.  D. 


John  iv.,  38 — Other  men  laboured,  and  ^-e  are  entered  into  their  labours. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  independence,  except  only  the 
independence  of  the  Ahnighty.  The  oak  tree  is  a  symbol  of 
independence.  It  is  strong  and  needs  no  props,  but  it  is  de- 
pendent on  the  soil  which  fastens  and  feeds  it,  as  well  as  upon 
water  and  sunshine.  Americans  glory  in  the  "Declaration  of 
Independence,"  an  important  document  certainly,  but  only  a 
repudiation  of  foreign  political  allegiaAce.  America  and  Eng- 
land, China  and  all  nations  are  naturally  dependent  in  com- 
merce, invention,  education  and  other  things. 

The  same  is  true  of  individuals.  No  man  liveth  unto  or 
of  himself.  We  depend  not  only  on  God,  the  Author  of  all 
good,  but  on  parents  and  teachers,  as  well  as  on  the  good  and 
great  of  other  generations  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our 
civilization  and  comfort.  So  in  the  church,  men  in  each  age 
build  on  the  work  of  those  who  have  gone  before.  Christ's 
disciples  stand  out  in  history  as  the  pioneers  of  a  dispensation, 
yet  they  were  not  independent.  Back  of  them  were  the 
prophets  and  Moses  and  Abraham,  and  all  who  helped  in 
Israel's  preparation  for  the  fullness  of  time.  Christ  said : 
"Other  men  labored,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labors." 

His  words  are  the  statement  of  a  principle  always  true. 
As  the  disciples  entered  into  the  labors  of  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  so  the  fathers  of   the    early  centuries    entered    into 


6  t>RESBYTERlAN    CENTENNIAL. 

theirs,  and  those  of  succeeding  centuries  into  theirs  ;  while  we* 
in  these  last  days  look  back  along  the  whole  line  and  repeat 
the  words,  "All  these  labored,  and  we  are  entered  into  their 
labors." 

We  are  like  workmen  on  some  great  cathedral,  taking  up 
work  which  others  began  and  still  others  carried  forward,  and 
still  others  must  finish,  according  to  the  plan  of  the  architect. 
Like  these  workmen,  we  see  the  vast  structure  and  note  its 
beauty,  but  like  them  also  we  may  forget  the  part  and  the  dili- 
gence and  even  the  tiames  of  those  who  have  labored  before 
us.  This  should  not  be  so.  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed. 
The  Church  should  know  and  honor  the  men  who  by  God's 
blessing  have  helped  build  and  establish  her.  So  each  par- 
ticular Church  should  remember  and  honor  those  who  have 
contributed  to  her  prosperity. 

If  there  is  any  spot  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  the  history  and 
associations  of  which  are  calculated  to  emphasize,  the  text,  it  is 
the  spot  on  which  this  church  building  stands.  It  is  sacred 
ground.  It  was  set  apart  for  sacred  uses  on  the  plan  of  Cin- 
cinnati, before  a  single  lot  was  disposed  of  for  any  purpose. 
This  original  plan  was  drawn  by  John  Filson,  who,  with 
Mathias  Denman  and  Robert  Patterson,  purchased  an  extensive 
tract  of  land.  Filson  was  killed  by  the  Indians  before  the 
land  was  occupied,  and  a  new  plan  was  drawn  by  Israel  Lud- 
low, who  succeeded  to  his  interest.  The  plans,  however,  were 
alike  in  many  particulars,  and  in  both  the  south  half  of  the 
square  bounded  by  Fourth,  Fifth,  Main  and  Walnut  streets 
was  "set  apart  for  the  uses  of  a  Presbyterian  Church." 

Cincinnati  was  settled  by  a  party  of  twenty-six  men  under 
the  leadership  of  Denman,  Patterson  and  Ludlow,  who  left 
Maysville,  then  called  Limestone,  on  the  24th  of  December, 
1788,  and  landed  near  the  foot  of  Sycamore  street,  probably  on 
the  28th.  The  lots  dedicated  for  chuixh  purposes  were  occu- 
pied almost  immediately.  A  majority  of  the  settlers,  including 
two  of  the  proprietors,  Denman  and  Patterson,  were  Presby- 
terians. Israel  Ludlow,  though  not  a  member  of  the  Church, 
had  been  raised  a  Presbyterian,  and  was  afterwards  identified 
with  this  congregation. 


PRESBYTERIAN'    CENTENNIAL.  / 

Their  gift  of  land  to  the  Church  represented,  however, 
only  their  good  will  to  the  cause  of  religion.  An  unfortunate 
oversight  in  the  execution  of  a  deed  some  years  later  of  all  the 
"unsold  lots"  in  their  tract,  threw  a  cloud  upon  the  church's 
title,  which  was  only  removed  by  purchase.  The  price 
was  that  at  which  the  lots  had  been  originally  put  on  the 
market,  namely  :   $4  per  lot  or  .|16  for  the  entire  half  square. 

A  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Israel  Ludlow  adorns  the  west 
wall  of  the  tower  of  this  building. 

Services  were  held  during  the  summer  of  1789,  under  the 
trees  which  grew  where  this  house  now  stands.  David  Wade, 
who  came  to  this  city  in  1790,  w^as  told  that  the  ground  had 
then  been  occupied  for  more  than  a  year.  Services  were  held 
also  in  the  houses  of  settlers,  and  in  a  mill  which  stood  on  Vine 
street,  below  Third. 

This  was,  of  course,  unsatisfactory.  The  need  of  a  formal 
organization,  and  of  a  building  and  pastor,  was  felt,  and  on  the 
16th  of  October,  1790,  a  Church  was  formally  organized  by 
Rev.  David  Rice,  under  a  commission  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Transylvania.  This  Presbytery  covered  at  that  time  all  the 
ground  west  of  the  mountains.  The  formality  of  the  organiza- 
tion has  been  questioned,  but  as  it  has  never  been  set  aside,  but 
was  recognized  by  the  Presbytery  in  the  installation  of  a 
pastor,  and  as  the  Church  has  been  satisfied  with  it  for  a  cent- 
ury, the  date  may  be  regarded  as  its  ecclesiastical  birthday. 

The  original  members  of  the  Church  were 

Daniel  Kitchel,  Jacob  Reeder, 

Joseph  Reeder,  Annie  Reeder, 

Samuel  Sering,  Sarah  Sering, 

Jonathan  Tichenor,  Isaac  Morris. 

Arrangements  were  made  by  Mr.  Rice  at  the  time  of  the 
organization  to  send  to  the  Church  a  theological  student,  James 
Kemper,  who,  by  direction  of  Presbytery,  was  studying  under 
his  tuition.  A  few  weeks  later  Mr.  Kemper  arrived  and  spent 
six  weeks,  returning  then  to  complete  his  studies.  In  the 
spring  he  again  visited  the  field  and  agreed  to  settle  for  the 
year,  but  did  not  move  his  family  nor  begin  his  service  until 
October  25th,  1791. 


O  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

About  this  time  it  was  determined  to  build  a  sanctuary," 
and  subscriptions  were  taken.  The  people  gave  liberally,  ac- 
cording to  their  means,  and  those  who  could  not  give  money, 
gave  lumber  or  other  material,  or  labor.  Many  subscriptions 
are  for  one,  two  or  three  days'  labor  ;  some  are  for  so  many 
days' work  of  team.  Others  are  for  nails,  boards  or  boat  plank. 
The  original  subscription  paper,  which  has  been  preserved,  is 
an  interesting  document.  It  is  said  to  contain  the  autograph 
of  every  male  resident  of  the  town  at  the  time,  January  16th, 
1792.  The  subscriptions  are  for  the  "purpose  of  erecting  an 
house  of  worship  in  the  village  of  Cincinnati  to  the  uses  of  the 
Presbyterian  denomination."  The  largest  money  subscription 
was  by  R.  Allison,  $11.  There  were  five  subscriptions  of  $10 
each.  These  were  by  Israel  Ludlow,  James  Wilkinson,  Win- 
throp  Sargeant,  Mahlon  Hord  and  C.  D.  Strong.  The  most 
liberal  subscription,  all  things  considered,  was  that  of  Rev. 
James  Kemper,  who  gave  five  dollars,  five  days'  work,  five 
days'  team  and  five  boat  plank.  The  total  subscription  in 
money  was  a  little  over  $300. 

The  building  was  of  frame,  30  x  40  feet.  It  was  occupied 
in  the  fall  both  as  a  church  and  Court-room.  Presbytery  met 
in  it  October  21,  1792.  It  was  not  plastered  until  1794,  when 
another  subscription  paper  was  passed  around.  Judge  Burnet, 
in  his  "Sketches  of  the  West,"  thus  describes  it :  "It  was  en- 
closed with  clapboards,  but  neither  lathed,  plastered  nor 
ceiled.  The  floor  was  of  boat  plank  laid  loosely  on  sleepers. 
The  seats  were  of  the  same  material  supported  on  blocks  of 
wood.  There  was  a  breastwork  of  unplaned  cherry  boards, 
called  the  pulpit,  behind  which  the  clergyman  stood  on  a  piece 
of  boat-plank  resting  on  blocks  of  wood." 

This  was  the  first  Protestant  house  of  worship  north-west 
of  the  Ohio.  What  is  said  to  be  a  picture  of  it  may  be  found  in 
several  historical  works,  but  the  picture  represents  a  two-story 
building  with  a  stone  foundation,  whereas  the  church  was  one- 
story,  and  rested  on  blocks  of  wood.  What  the  picture  really 
represents  was  known  as  Burk's  church,  which  stood  on  Vine 
street,  near  Fifth,  and  was  constructed  partly  out  of  the  ma- 
terial of  the  original  building.     A  more  accurate,  though  not 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  9 

■SO  pretty  picture  has  been  drawn  from  an  outline  made  by  the 
late  Isaac  McFarland,  the  details  being  filled  in  according  to 
his  suggestions  and  those  of  other  persons  who  remember 
the  building.  The  success  of  Rev.  Mr.  Kemper's  labors  as 
supply  were  so  satisfactory  that  at  the  end  of  the  year  he  was 
called  to  the  pastorate.  The  call  was  for  three  years,  a  limita- 
tion which  would  not  be  regarded  as  orderly  in  our  day,  but 
the  Presbytery,  without  objecting  to  this,  placed  it  in  his  hands, 
and  appointed  a  meeting  at  Cincinnati,  October  21st,  for  his 
ordination  and  installation.  The  record  of  this  meeting  is 
important.  It  was  held  in  the  new  sanctuary.  There  were 
present  Revs.  David  Rice,  James  McConnell  and  Terah 
Templin. 

Ordinations  and  installations  were  not  so  common  as  in 
our  day,  and  there  was  no  disposition  to  hurry.  Presbytery 
met  on  the  21st,  but  did  nothing  except  organize.  Rev.  David 
Rice  was  Moderator.  On  the  22nd  Mr.  Kemper  preached  his 
trial  sermon  from  II.  Tim.  i.  13,  "Thou  therefore  endure  hard- 
ness as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,"  an  appropriate  text,  as 
any  one  familiar  with  his  life  will  realize.  He  also  delivered 
a  popular  lecture  and  was  fully  examined.  The  ordination 
was  appointed  for  10  o'clock  the  next  morning,  at  which  time 
Mr.  Kemper  was  duly  ordained  and  installed,  the  whole  day 
being  given  up  to  the  service. 

In  the  record  of  Presbytery,  as  in  other  early  records,  the 
church  is  spoken  of  as  the  "Church  of  Cincinnati  and  Colum- 
bia." It  was  one  church  with  the  two  names,  and  so  remained 
during  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Kemper.  This  lasted  until  Oc- 
tober 7, 1796,  when  the  church  was  divided  into  the  "Churches" 
of  Cincinnati  and  Columbia,  the  latter  dividing  at  once  into 
the  churches  of  Duck  Creek,  now  Pleasant  Ridge,  and  Round 
Bottom,  whose  members  afterwards  formed  the  Mt.  Carmel 
Church.  The  earlier  years  of  Mr.  Kemper's  pastorate  were 
years  of,  trial  to  the  new  settlement.  There  was  constant 
trouble  with  the  Indians.  The  session  of  the  church  directed 
<hat  men  bring  their  guns  to  the  sanctuary.  There  was  also  a 
town   ordinance  to   the  same  effect,  and  it  is  on  record  that 


10  PRESBYTERIAX    CENTENNIAL. 

Mr.  John  S.  Wallace,  for  failing  to  do  so,  was  fined  seventy- 
five  cents. 

No  mention  has  so  far  heen  made  of  the  Session  of  the 
Church,  for  the  reason  that  at  the  organization  no  elders  were 
elected,  there  being  no  suitable  persons. 

At  that  time,  however,  or  soon  after,  Moses  Miller  and 
Jacob  Reeder  were  chosen  "  to  have  charge  ot  the  aflairs  of 
the  church." 

These  are  spoken  of  in  several  early  documents  as  "Trus- 
tees." They  are  so  named,  with  Jo*hn  Ludlow,  James  Lyon,^ 
John  Thorp  and  William  McMillan,  in  the  subscription  paper, 
January  16,  1792. 

The  first  election  of  elders  was  on  .September  3d,  1793. 
The  Church  at  this  time  numbered  fifty  members,  but  only  the 
male  members  could  vote.  Moses  Miller,  Joseph  Reeder,^ 
Samuel  Reeder,  David  Reeder  and  Jonathan  Tichenor  were 
chosen. 

At  the  same  meeting  Oliver  Spencer  and  Jacob  Reeder 
were  chosen  deacons.  Ten  davs  later  these  were  ordained, 
and  on  the  succeeding  sabbath,  September  21st,  1793,  the  first 
communion  service  was  held. 

The  Church  was  identified  at  an  early  day  with  the  work 
of  education.  In  1794  a  school  was  held  in  the  church  build- 
ing, and  in  1796  the  Sessions,  at  the  request  of  the  citizens, 
allowed  a  school  building  to  be  built  on  the  west  part  of  the 
church  lot.  The  action  was  taken  against  the  protest  of  Jacob 
Reeder  and  Moses  Miller,  and  though  in  the  interest  of  the 
town,  was  most  unfortunate  for  the  Church.  It  was  practically 
the  giving  away  of  property  worth  now  thousands  of  dollars. 
The  College  Building,  on  Walnut  street,  is  the  lineal  successor 
of  the  humble  school-house  built  at  that  early  day.  Our 
magnificent  public  school  system,  with  its  high  schools  and 
universities,  is  the  descendant  of  the  school  taught  in  it. 

Mr,   Kemper's    pastorate    closed    in    1796.      The    Church 
under  his   ministration   had   prospered.      He   w^as  an   earnest 
preacher  and  a  fearless  man.     The  journey  from  Cincinnati  to 
Columbia,   which    he    made    every  other  sabbath    for  several, 
years,  was  one  of  danger.     The  woods  were  full  of  Indians, 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  11 

and  it  was  a  time  of  war.  He  was  the  man  for  the  time  and 
place,  and  his  name  stands  as  the  pioneer  minister  of  this 
whole  region.  True  the  Rev.  David  Rice  preceded  him,  hav- 
ing preached  a  few  weeks  earlier,  but  he  came  to  stay.  He 
was  the  first  installed  pastor  of  any  denomination  northwest  of 
the  Ohio.  He  w^as  a  factor  in  the  history  of  most  of  the  early 
<;hurches  of  the  Miami  Valley. 

The  closing  years  of  the  century  were  a  time  of  trial  to 
the  Church  in  Cincinnati.  Peace  had  been  established  with 
the  Indians,  and  this  meant  the  scattering  to  farms  and  small 
villages.  The  Church  felt  the  loss  of  many  who  had  been  her 
support.  Her  loss,  however,  was  the  gain  of  religion  through- 
out a  large  section.  Many  new  Churches  at  once  organized 
and  a  general  spirit  of  revival  prevailed.  Unfortunately  this 
was  marked  by  excesses  which   led    to  strife    and  weakness. 

In  1797  Rev.  Peter  Wilson  took  charge  of  the  Church. 
Little  is  known  of  him.  He  was  not  installed  and  died  after  a 
brief  service.  He  was  followed  by  Rev.  Matthew  G.  Wallace, 
a  man  of  much  ability,  who  remained  part  of  the  time  as  pastor 
and  part  as  stated  supply  about  four  years.  From  1804,  the 
close  of  Mr.  Wallace's  labors,  until  1808,  was  a  time  of  con- 
troversy and  danger.  The  New  Light  doctrines  and  methods 
-were  in  the  ascendant  throughout  the  ]Miami  country.  Three 
ministers.  Rev.  John  Dunlevy,  Richard  McNemar  and  John 
Thompson,  had  seceded  from  Presbytery  and  been  successful 
in  leading  off  or  dividing  their  churches. 

The  Church  in  Cincinnati  was  seriously  affected.  Indeed 
it  is  on  record,  that  for  allowing  New  Light  preachers  to 
preach  their  doctrines  in  its  pulpit,  it  was  refused  representa- 
tion in  Presbytery.  During  this  period  Rev.  Peter  Davis 
and  Rev.  John  Davies  supplied  the  church  each  for  a  short 
time,  the  former  dying  before  the  time  for  which  he  was 
employed  had  expired. 

The  fall  and  winter  of  1806  was  a  time  of  revival.  A 
number  of  persons  were  added  to  the  church  and  increased 
interest  was  manifested  in  her  affairs.  Steps  were  taken  to- 
ward an  incorporation,  and  in  January,  1807,  a  charter  was 
obtained.     According  to  the  terms  of  this  charter  the  following 


12  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

persons  were,  July  1, 1807,  elected  trustees  :  James  Ewen  (prob-- 
ably  Ewing),  Joseph  VanHorn,  David  E.  Wade,  Thomas  Mc- 
Farland  and  Robert  Merry.    Joseph  VanHorn  was  chosen  Clerk, 
Jacob  Bunaet,  Treasurer,  and  Jacob  Wheeler,  Collector. 

There  is  no  record  of  the  election  of  elders  at  this  time  but 
records  of  Presb3tery  show  that  Jacob  Reeder  and  Samuel 
Serring  had  been  added  to  the  Session  as  originally  constitu- 
ted. The  number  of  members  at  this  time  (1807-8)  was  about 
eighty.  The  Church,  moreover,  was  stronger  financially,  and 
was  anxious,  as  an  old  record  says  "for  a  man  of  God  who 
would  take  charge  of  it  and  stay."  Such  a  man  was  found  in 
Rev.  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  who  visited  the  city,  and,  having 
preached,  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the  church.  He  ac- 
cepted for  one  year,  and  removing  to  the  city  from  Bardstown, 
Ky.,  began  on  May  28,  1808,  a  long  and  useful  ministry.  He 
was  a  man  of  remarkable  ability,  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of 
his  age  and  the  fourth  of  his  ministry. 

About  the  time  of  his  call  an  election  of  elders  was  held. 
A  letter  written  at  the  time  states  that  "of  the  Session  as  it 
formerly  was,  only  one  elder"  (not  naming  him)  remained, 
who,  with  Samuel  Sarran  (Serring)  and  Jacob  Reeder,  was 
still  in  office,  and  that  an  election  for  additional  elders  was 
held.  The  date  of  the  election  is  gone,  but  it  was  probably  in 
January  or  February,  1808.  At  this  meeting  the  following 
persons  were  chosen  elders  :  James  Ewing,  G.  Voris  and  Joseph 
Van  Horn.  The  following  year  Joseph  McMurray  and  Jacob 
Wheeler  were  elected.  They  were  ordained  May  17,  1809. 
About  this  time  Joseph  McMurray  was  chosen  Clerk  of  Session 
— a  position  which  he  filled  long  and  well.  At  a  called  meet- 
ing of  the  congregation,  September  15,  1810,  Robert  Wallace, 
sr.,  and  David  E.  Wade  were  chosen.  The  latter  was  ordained 
September  22,  1810.  On  March  8,  1815,  Thomas  Collord, 
Samuel  Newell  and  Robert  ISlerry  were  chosen.  They  were 
ordained  March  12. 

The  name  of  Jesse  Reeder  appears  on  the  roll  of  Session 
from  March  6,  1813,  but  there  is  no  record  of  his  election. 

During  the  period  covered  by  these  elections  the, Church 
grew   rapidly,  and   a   larger  building  became  a  necessity.     It 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  13 

was  determined  to  build  and  subscriptions  were  taken.  The 
list  of  subscribers  has  been  preserved  and  is  a  valuable  docu- 
ment. It  shows  the  growth  of  the  city,  not  only  in  population 
but  in  wealth.     The  year  was  1812. 

The  largest  subscription  was  by  Wm.  Lytle,  $1,000  in  land. 
Jacob  Burnet  and  Martin  Baum  gave  $500  each.  Daniel  Sym- 
mes,  David  E.  Wade,  Jesse  Hunt,  Lucy  Ziegler,  James  Fergu- 
son and  Joel  Williams  gave  $400  each,  the  latter  giving  in  land. 
William  Woodward,  William  Stanley,  Thomas  Graham,  Elmore 
Williams  and  Joseph  Ruffner  gave  $300,  and  others  to  the 
number  of  more  than  a  hundred  gave  sums  ranging  from  $25 
to  $250.     This  total  reached  a  little  more  than  $16,000. 

Building  was  begun  at  once,  but  the  house  was  not  com- 
pleted until  the  winter  of  1814.  It  was  of  brick  68x85  feet  and 
faced  Main  street.  Two  square  towers  flanking  the  front  and 
crowned  with  spires  gave  it  the  name  of  "The  Two-Horned 
Church."  The  audience  room  was  spacious,  with  a  gallery  on 
three  sides.  The  pulpit  was  high,  and  below  was  an  entrance 
to  the  session  room.  The  space  about  the  church  was  used  as 
a  cemetery. 

Woman's  work,  which  some  in  the  church  regarded  as  of 
modern  growth  was  the  feature  of  the  Society  as  long  ago  as 
1812.  There  is  a  record  that  the  "Female  Society  were  efii- 
cient  in  raising  funds  for  the  new  sanctuary."  It  is  also  noted 
that  for  some  years  previous  this  Society  had  maintained  regu- 
lar weekly  prayer  and  conference  meetings.  About  the  time 
the  sanctuary  was  finished  it  resolved  itself  into  "the  Cincin- 
nati Female  Society  for  Charitable  Purposes''  It  was  a  Benev- 
olent Missionary  Bible  and  Tract  Society,  all  in  one,  and  as 
such  continued  for  many  years,  if  indeed  it  does  not  still  exist 
in  the  present  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church. 

At  a  meeting  of  Session,  held  September  3,  1814,  a  com- 
munication was  received  from  Charles  Greene  and  John  Kelso 
asking  that  steps  be  taken  towards  the  establishment  of  another 
Church.  This  met  with  opposition,  but  was  the  beginning  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city.  The  city  was 
growing,  and  it  was  none  to  soon  for  such  colonization  as 
would  secure  more  thorough  cultivation  of  the  field. 


14  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

There  is  no  record  as  to  the  number  of  members  in  the 
Church  at  the  time  those  who  formed  the  Second  Church  with- 
drew, but  in  1816,  after  all  who  had  gone  into  it  had  taken 
their  letters,  the  number  left  on  the  roll  was  165.  In  1821  it 
had  increased  to  240. 

From  1821  to  1827  was  comparatively  an  uneventful 
period.  The  church  of  Walnut  Hills  was  organized  in  1819. 
This,  however,  did  not  affect  the  Church  as  it  and  other  sub- 
urban Churches  have  done  of  late  years. 

Walnut  Hills  was  a  village  entirely  separate  from  the 
city.  Many,  if  not  a  majority,  of  its  members  came  from  the 
Duck  Creek  (now  Pleasant  Ridge)  Church.  During  this 
period  elders  were  added  to  the  Session,  as  follows :  On 
October  29,  1815,  John  F.  Keys,  Samuel  Patterson  and  Robert 
Boal ;  on  May  20,  1821,  James  Chute  and  Josiah  Moorhead. 

From  1821  to  1827  the  Church  grew  more  in  influence 
and  wealth  than  in  numbers.  The  congregations  were  large, 
and  discipline  was  strictly  enforced.  The  records,  particularly 
of  1826  and  1827,  show  that  the  Session  was  alive  to  its 
responsibility.  Committees  were  appointed  to  visit  negligent 
members  and  urge  their  attention  to  duty. 

Sessional  prayer-meetings  wei"e  also  held,  and  the  people 
were  urged  to  pray  for  the  prosperity  of  Zion.  The  early 
months  of  1828  were  full  of  signs  of  revival.  Session  noted 
the  fact  that  a  prayerful  spirit  pervaded  the  congregation. 
On  January  15,  1828,  the  following  additional  elders  were 
chosen :  William  Holyoak,  William  Schilling,  George  C. 
Miller  and  James  Johnston,  and  it  was  at  once  resolved  to 
hold  two  regular  church  prayer-meetings  each  week  in  addition 
to  the  regular  Wednesdav  evening  service.  These  were  held 
not  at  the  church,  but  in  private  houses,  and  were  well 
attended  and  profitable.  About  the  same  time  the  members  of 
the  Church  were  urged  to  devote  the  hour  between  sunset  and 
dark  every  evening  to  prayer  for  revival.  The  record  is  that 
they  did  this  very  generally,  and  the  number  of  names  of  those 
who  appeared  before  the  Session  seeking  membei-ship  proves 
that  the  prayer  was  answered. 

Among  those  who  united  with  the  Church  at  the  spring 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  15 

communion  were  James  Saffin,  Andi"ew  McAlpin,  William 
Flintham,  John  Baker,  Lewis  Baker.  In  June,  a  little  later, 
Rev.  James  Gallagher  and  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Ross,  who  had 
been  successful  in  revival  work  in  vai'ious  places  in  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky,  came  to  the  help  of  Dr.  Wilson,  and  the  inter- 
est already  manifest  deepened  and  extended  until  the  city  was 
moved  as  it  had  not  been  before  and  has  not  been  since.  Dur- 
ing the  month  of  July  the  Session  received  into  the  Church 
15  persons  by  letter  and  248  on  examination.  There  were  also 
others  received  in  August  and  September,  making  in  all  364. 
Of  these  97  were  baptized.  There  were  also  during  the  year 
92  infant  baptisms.  This  revival  was  one  of  far-reaching 
importance.  The  Church  was  greatly  strengthened.  In  1827 
it  reported  231  members,  and  in  1828,  604.  Among  these  w^ere 
the  parents  and  grandparents  of  many  prominent  in  our  own 
and  other  churches  of  the  city  to-day. 

On  the  list  are  such  names  as  Burnet,  Kautz,  Cobb,  Lytle, 
Funk,  Keys,  Baker,  Johnson,  Montgomery,  Skillinger,  Newell, 
Wilson,  Wheeler,  Hart,  Woodward,  Hopple,  Chute,  Flint, 
Clopper,  Baird,  Bates,  Ramsey,  Torrence,  Bailey  and  Miller. 
There  were  many  who  have  been  efficient  as  officers  of  the 
Church  and  as  ministers.  Among  the  latter  were  Dr.  S.  R. 
Wilson,  afterwards  pastor  of  the  church  ;  Dr.  J.  G.  Monfort 
and  Dr.  Jonathan  Edward,  afterwards  pastor  of  the  Seventh 
Church.  The  Session  realized  the  responsibility  of  caring  for 
so  many  people  lately  converted,  and  asked  the  congregation 
to  add  to  their  number  by  electing  five  new  elders.  At  a 
meeting  December  8,  1828,  the  following  were  elected  :  Jabez 
C.  Tunis,  H.  B.  Funk,  Thos.  L.  Payne,  Nathan  Baker  and  John 
Baker.  The  Session  as  thus  reinforced  was  a  remarkable  body, 
well  calculated  in  numbers  and  wisdom  for  its  unusual  work. 
It  was  composed  as  follows  :  Rev.  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  Moder- 
ator, and  Elders  John  F.  Keys,  John  Baker,  William  Holyoak, 
Thomas  L.  Payne,  William  Skillinger,  Jabez  C.  Tunis,  David 
E.  Wade,  Robert  Merrie,  Samuel  Newell,  Jacob  Wheeler, 
George  C.  Miller,  James  Johnston,  Henry  B.  Funk,  Josiah 
Moorhead  and  Nathan  Baker. 

These,  with  other  faithful  men  and  women,  should  be  held 


16  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

in  remembrance.    Their  work  in  the  revival  and  afterward  has-* 
been  of  incalculable  value  to  the  church  not  only  in  the  city, 
but  in  all  the  region  round  about. 

They  labored,  and  we,  in  all  the  churches,  are  entered  into 
all  their  labors.  Through  their  faithfulness  the  First  Church 
became  wonderfully  increased.  Almost  immediately  also  the 
Third  Church  was  organized,  and  began  its  work  of  use- 
fulness. 

Following  the  revival  were  years,  which,  though  they  do 
not  fill  a  large  place  in  written  history,  are  no  less  important 
than  that  marked  by  special  ingathering  of  souls.  They  were 
years  of  instruction,  of  watchfulness  and  discipline,  during 
which  babes  in  Christ  were  brought  to  the  fullness  of  stature 
which  is  in  Him.  The  session  was  twice  enlarged  during  this 
period  :  on  July  1,  1834,  by  the  election  of  James  Mclntyre, 
Wm.  McLaughlin  and  Nathan  Baker,  and  on  December  10, 
1839,  by  the  election  of  Samuel  Newell,  John  D.  Thorp  and 
James  Wilson.  Two  of  these,  Samuel  Newell  and  Nathan 
Baker,  had  previously  been  elders.  They  had  probably  been 
absent  from  the  city  and  returned. 

In  1841,  Dr.  Wilson  being  somewhat  enfeebled  by  age,, 
his  son.  Rev.  S.  R.  Wilson,  was  called  to  be  his  assistant.  He 
had  grown  up  in  the  congregation,  and  was  known  and  loved. 

Three  years  later,  in  1844,  the  Central  Church  was  or- 
ganized with  thirty-three  members.  James  Johnson,  one  of 
the  first  Elders,  is  still  a  member  of  the  session. 

Two  years  later,  August,  1846,  Dr.  Wilson  died,  full  of 
years  and  honors,  and  his  son  succeeded  to  the  full  duties  of 
the  pastorate.  He  remained  until  the  spring  of  jNIarch  2,  1861. 
Though  the  years  of  his  service  did  not  attain  unto  the  years  of 
the  service  of  his  father,  his  pastorate  would  in  these  days  be 
counted  a  long  one.  Father  and  son  together  served  the  church 
fifty-three  years,  more  than  half  the  period  of  its  history. 

The  pastorate  of  Rev.  S.  R.  Wilson  was  marked  by  two 
important  events.  The  first  was  the  organization  of  the 
Seventh  Church  in  1849.  This  drew  from  the  First  Church 
many  of  its  people,  including  some  of  its  strongest  and  most 
honored   Elders.     The  second  was   the  building  of  the  present 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  17 

sanctuary,  dedicated  September  21,  1851.  The  next  election 
of  Elders  was  on  December  13,  1849,  when  William  Baird, 
Joseph  C.  Clopper  and  John  Stille  were  chosen.  After  this 
the  records  show  the  following  elections  :  On  October  17,  1853, 
Melanchton  S.  Wade,  George  W.  IMcAlpin  and  Alexander  M. 
Johnston  ;  on  December  4,  1863,  John  A.  Thacker  ;  on  Febru- 
ary 16,  1866,  Jos.  C.  Culbertson,  William  Phillips  and  C.  G. 
Rogers  ;  on  March  8,  1867,  D;  J.  Fallis,  C.  B.  Chapman  and 
W.  K.  Ferine. 

On  September  29,  1871,  the  congregation  voted  to  accept 
the  "rotary  system,"  and  the  entire  session  having  resigned,  the 
following  persons  were  chosen  :  D.  J.  Fallis,  William  Phillips, 
C.  W.  Gerard,  William  Clendenin,  George  Crosby  and  J.  B. 
Rogers. 

Two  years  later,  October  11,  1873,  the  name  of  Dr.  J.  C- 
Culbertson  again  appears  upon  the  sessional  roll.  After  this 
the  following  were  chosen  :  On  April  7,  1879,  William  Mc- 
Alpin  and  William  Clendenin  ;  on  April  5, 1880,  E.  B.  South- 
wick  ;  on  April  2,  1883,  John  Johnston  ;  on  April  15,  1885, 
Charles  Lewis,  C.  A.  Sanders  and  Adam  Byerley  ;  on  April  4, 
1888,  J.  E.  Anderson ;  on  April  3,  1889,  A.  D.  Birchard, 
Charles  Weber,  W.  H.  Falls  and  W.  A.  Eudaly. 

This  completes  the  list  of  Elders.  It  should  be  noted  that 
the  dates  given  are  those  of  elections.  In  some  cases  there  is 
evidence  that  the  office  was  declined.  Of  these  no  mention  is 
made.  In  others  it  appears  at  least  probable  that  the  election 
was  at  first  declined,  but  afterwards,  possibly  after  a  second 
election  accepted.  In  these  the  date  of  the  first  election  has 
been  given.  After  the  adoption  of  the  rotary  system  the  date 
is  always  that  of  the  first  election.  No  mention  is  made  of  re- 
elections. 

The  pastoral  relation  of  Dr.  S.  R.  Wilson  was  dissolved 
March  2,  1861.  The  following  year  Rev.  J.  E.  Annin  began  a 
term  of  service  which  closed  July  13,  1864.  He  was  followed 
by  Rev.  Dr.  William  C.  Anderson  for  a  brief  period. 

On  January  4,  1867,  a  call  was  extended  to  Rev.  Dr.  C.  L. 
Thompson,  who  accepted  and  remained  with  the  church  five 
years.     He  was  followed   by  Rev.   George  B.   Beecher,  called 


18  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

November  6,  1872,  and  released  February  21,  1879. 

At  this  date  began  my  special  acquaintance  with  and  in- 
terest in  the  First  Church.  On  invitation  of  the  session  1  sup- 
plied the  pulpit  for  a  fev^  vSabbaths  ;  then  on  successive  invi- 
tation for  over  two  years,  until  April  11,  1881,  when  called  to 
the  pastorate,  I  remained  until  June  14,  1888.  My  interest  in 
the  church  still  abides.  I  can  not  conceive  of  a  more  delight- 
ful pastorate  than  I  enjoyed  with  these  people. 

Rev.  H.  W.  Gilchrist,  who,  for  two  years  had  served  the 
Church  as  "pastor's  assistant,"  in  charge  of  Pilgrim  Chapel, 
was  then  called  to  supply  the  Church,  and  on  November  14, 
1888,  called  to  the  pastorate,  a  position  which,  let  us  all  hope, 
he  will  be  long  spared  to  fill. 

The  last  decade  of  the  Church  work  has  been  marked  by 
missionary  activity.  Indeed  there  were  the  beginnings  of  this 
during  Mr.  Beecher's  pastorate,  when  an  afternoon  children's 
service  was  established,  which  for  a  time  was  quite  promising. 
Differences  of  opinion  as  to  methods  caused  it  to   be  given  up. 

In  1882  work  was  begun  at  Pilgrim  Chapel,  on  Fifth 
street,  near  Lock.  Here  a  Sabbath-school  has  been  maintained 
for  many  years.  It  had  however,  so  run  down  that  but  for  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Anderson  and  those  of  his  household,  and  of 
a  choice  circle  of  growing  young  people,  it  would  have  been 
abandoned. 

Und^er  the  care  of  the  Church  the  school  at  once  revived, 
and  the  Session  was  encouraged  to  enlarge  its  work.  A  Sab- 
bath afternoon  preaching  service  was  begun  on  April  16.  I 
remember  the  first  service  well.  Twenty-six  persons  were 
present.  Five  were  members  of  the  First  Church,  one  of  the 
Seventh  Church,  and  one  of  Christ  Church,  Episcopal.  All 
except  the  last  named  and  one  who  has  gone  to  her  rest,  are 
now  members  of  the  First  Chuixh  or  of  Pilgrim  Chapel. 

After  preaching  for  several  months,  finding  three  services 
a  day  too  much,  the  Church  kindly  gave  me  an  assistant  in 
Rev.  Howard  A.  Johnston.  He  remained  in  charge  of  Pilgrim 
two  years,  when  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Seventh 
Church.  His  place  was  filled  by  Rev.  N.  A.  Shedd,  who  also 
remained  two  years.     He  is  now  pastor  in   charge  of  Bethany 


PRESBYTERIAN     CEXTEXXIAL.  19 

Chapel,  Walnut  Hills.  He  was  followed  by  Rev.  H.  W.  Gil- 
christ, now  pastor  of  the  first  Church,  and  he  in  turn  by  Rev. 
C.  O.  Shirey,  who,  since  the  chapel  has  become  a  separate 
church,  remains  with  it  as  its  pastor. 

Few  mission  enterprises  have  been  blessed  with  a  succession 
of  such  men.  All  succeeded  to  prosperous  churches  in  the  city. 
The  Church  might  do  well  to  establish  another  such  stepping 
stone  to  metropolitan  pulpits. 

Pilgrim  Chapel  became  a  separate  Church  on  May  1,  1890, 
and  entered  upon  possession  of  a  delightful  church  home  built 
in  1887  on  Ida  street,  Mt.  Adams. 

This  briefly  is  the  history  of  the  First  Church,  and  these  are 
the  men,  an  imperfect  list,  it  is  true,  who  by  God's  grace  have 
been  instrumental  in  building  and  maintaining  it.  I  would  the 
list  were  fuller ;  I  wish  we  had  the  rolls  of  Deacons  and 
trustees  and  elect  women  ;  of  faithful  Sabbath-school  teachers 
and  others,  who  have  labored  and  gone  to  their  rest.  The 
Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  His,  and  them  also  that  have 
been  faithful  to  Him. 

We  cannot  name  them  all,  but  we  are  entered  into  their 
labors.  May  the  master  whom  they  served  increase  our  faith 
and  strengthen  our  zeal  and  establish  the  work  of  our  hands. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    1828 


Rev.  ].  G.  Monfort,  D.  D. 


I  came  to  Cincinnati  in  April,  1828,  and  was  here  nearly 
two  years,  covering  the  time  of  the  revival,  and  until  after  the 
beginning  of  the  Old  and  New  school  controversy,  which  soon 
produced  strife  and  alienation.  I  attended  all  the  meetings  in 
Cincinnati,  and  many  in  other  churches,  as  Dayton,  Hamilton, 
Oxford,  Springdale,  Reading,  Montgomery  and  Cheviot,  the 
last  three  being  camp-meetings.  I  was  one  of  the  first  to  go 
to  the  anxious-seat  and  join  the  church.  The  revival  had  its 
relations  to  the  preceding  history  of  the  church,  beginning  with 
what  is  called  "The  Great  Revival,"  commencing  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  century  and  extending  to  1810  ;  also  to  the  period 
of  declension  and  controversy,  from  1810  to  1826. 

The  first  revival  was  a  great  means  of  blessing  and  also  of 
evil.  It  began  in  Southwestern  Kentucky,  and  soon  extended 
all  over  the  State  and  into  Southern  Ohio.  The  first  sensa- 
tional symptom  was  at  a  very  serious  and  spiritual  meeting,  a 
camp-meeting  in  July,  1800,  on  Gaspar  river,  when  suddenly  a 
woman  began  to  shout  and  then  to  speak  in  heavenly  tones  of 
thanksgiving  and  exhortation,  so  that  the  whole  congregation 
was  in  sympathy  with  her.  The  revival  soon  spread  in  Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky  and  Ohio,  reaching  every  neighborhood,  and 
protracted  meetings  and  camp-meetings  were  the  order  of  the 
day,  and  immense  assemblies  were  everywhere  gathered,  and 
the  converts  were  numbered  by  thousands.  Very  soon,  and 
everywhere,  there  were  excesses  and  disorders.  The  people 
indulged  in  shouting,  barking  like  dogs,  going  on  their  hands 
and  feet,  telling  dreams,  hugging  and  kissing,  swooning  and 
falling,  and  other  things  equally  extravagant  and  disorderly. 
The  Cumberland  Presbytery  licensed  a  large  number  of  men  to 
pieach  without  education.  In  Central  and  Northern  Ken- 
tucky  and    Ohio    the    leaders    of   the    revival    denounced  the 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  21 

Confession  of  Faith  and  all  creeds,  especially  the  doctrines  of 
infant  baptism,  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  atonement,  and 
separated  from  their  presbyteries  and  called  themselves  New 
Lights.  The  Synod  of  Kentucky  disowned  the  New  Lights, 
and  dissolved  the  Presbytery  of  Cumberland,  and  the  New^ 
Lights  and  Cumberlands  became  separate  denominations.  From 
the  time  I  was  five  years  old  I  have  heard,  in  my  father's 
house,  the  whole  story  of  this  revival,  the  doctrines  and  dis- 
orders, the  preachers  and  meetings.  I  must  say  that  from  all  I 
heard,  of  all  who  passed  through  the  revival,  or  were  converted 
in  it,  all  regardea  it,  especially  for  the  first  few  years,  as  a 
genuine  work  of  grace,  and  the  disorders  as  mysteries  not 
understood.  My  father  and  two  uncles  were  converted  in  this 
revival,  a-nd  at  once  began  to  exhort,  and  soon  to  preach,  but 
in  1810  joined  our  church,  in  which  they  had  been  reared. 
How  often  have  I  heard  them,  and  others  of  the  same  exper- 
ience, talk  over  the  times  as  full  of  blessing,  as  well  as  of 
reproach  and  defection  ! 

After  the  exodus  of  the  Cumberlands  and  of  the  New 
Lights,  many  of  whom  had  become  Shakers,  there  was  a  de- 
cade, and  more,  in  our  church,  of  spiritual  dearth.  The  pulpit 
was  largely  given  to  the  defense  of  the  repudiated  doctrines 
and  the  'attacks  of  the  faith  and  disorders  of  those  who  had 
gone  out  from  us.  There  were  no  revivals,  and  little  progress 
in  any  direction.  There  was  a  large  immigration  of  Presby- 
terians from  the  East,  especially  from  New  Jersey,  who  knew 
little  of  the  revival  and  its  evil  results,  and  who  were  useful  in 
making  our  churches  what  they  had  been  here  before  the 
trouble.  After  a  while  the  tone  of  preaching  and  conversa- 
tion began  to  be  less  militant  and  moi^e  spiritual.  Ministers 
and  hearers  began  to  yearn  after  truth  and  life  more  vital,  and 
soon  the  heavenly  dove  of  doctrine,  love  and  duty,  which  had 
for  some  time  looked  like  the  skin  of  truth  set  up  and  stuffed, 
began  to  show  some  signs  of  vitality.  As  early  as  1826  there 
was  the  sound  of  a  going  in  the  tops  of  mulberry-trees  in  Ten- 
nessee, and  the  sound  was  heard  in  Kentucky,  and  then  in 
Ohio.  The  Tennessee  preachers  were  invited  to  Kentucky, 
and   they  came,  and   their  labors  were  blessed.     In   the   spring 


22  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

of  1828  there  was  some  ingathering  and  tokens  of  better  times' 
in  Cincinnati.  Dr.  Joshua  L.Wilson  invited  Messrs.  Gallagher 
and  Ross  to  come  over  from  their  w^ork  in  Kentucky,  and  help 
us  ;  and  they  came,  and  the  Lord  came  with  them  in  great 
power.  As  others  are  to  speak  of  the  incidents  of  the  revival, 
I  will  only  give  my  estimate  of  the  men,  the  measures  and  the 
results. 

The  preaching  and  methods  were  about  the  same  as  have 
prevailed  in  revivals  ever  since.  The  revival  was  the  work  ot 
the  Lord.  The  congregations  were  large.  The  preaching  and 
exhortations  were  not  sensational.  The  hearers  were  serious 
and  attentive.  The  singing  was  hearty  and  general.  The 
prayers  were  earnest  and  in  quest  of  immediate  and  present 
blessing.  The  custom  was  to  preach  a  sermon  and  to  make 
one  or  more  exhortations.  The  preachers  usually  alternated 
both  in  pi-eaching  and  exhortation.  The  exhortations  were 
generally  from  the  floor  in  front  of  the  pulpit ;  sometimes  the 
preacher  stood  on  a  pew,  often  near  the  center  of  the  church. 
The  anxious-seat  was  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  and  each  exhorta- 
tion was  an  invitation  to  come  to  the  anxious-seat  while  a 
hymn  was  being  sung.  At  the  close  the  anxious  were  addressed 
and  then  prayer  was  offered  for  them,  in  which  they  were  ex- 
horted to  join.  Dr.  Wilson  was  opposed  to  the  anxious-seat, 
as  he  was  to  the  ^Methodist  "mourner's  bench,"  but  after  a  few 
days  he  proposed  its  use,  and  with  it  the  revival  received  new 
life  and  power.  The  preaching  was  the  simple  gospel.  Mr. 
Ross'  sermons  were  well  prepared  and  delivered.  Mr.  Gallagher 
was  the  most  eflTective  and  popular.  He  was  a  good  singer,  a 
man  of  genius,  abounding  in  illustration  appropriate  and 
tender.  As  an  illustration  of  his  style  :  In  a  sermon  he  quoted 
the  passage  concerning  the  Jews,  "If  the  casting  away  of  them 
be  the  reconciling  of  the  world,  what  shall  the  receiving  of 
them  be  but  life  from  the  dead?"  and  he  added,  "Or  as  if  the 
dead  were  to  rise,"  and  then  he  pictured  the  dead  as  rising  and 
coming  into  the  congregation  and  greeting  husbands  and  wives, 
parents  and  children  ;  and  the  congregation  bowed  and  wept, 
and  some  sobbed  aloud,  while  the  tears  rolled  from  his  eyes, 
and  his  voice  sank    to  a  whisper.     Such   flashes   of  emotion 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  23 

were  frequent.  His  heart  was  loving  and  tender,  his  voice 
strong,  clear  and  melodious,  and  his  countenance,  form  and 
size  presented  a  picture  of  the  best  manhood.  Dr.  Wilson  took 
active  part  in  the  meetings,  and  his  addresses  were  effective 
and  often  thrilling  in  high  degree. 

The  accessions  to  the  church  were  very  large.  The  re- 
vival continued  for  about  two  years.  Very  few  of  those  added 
to  the  church  fell  away,  and  a  large  number  of  the  converts 
became  ministers  of  the  gospel.     It  was  a  glorious  work. 

It  is  painful,  however,  to  be  obliged  to  say  that  this  re- 
vival was  soon  followed  by  ten  and  more  years  of  alienation 
and  strife,  without  revivals  and  without  other  evidence  of 
spiritual  growth.  The  Old  and  New  School  controversy  began 
in  1829,  and  lasted  even  beyond  the  disruption  of  1838.  It 
came  from  the  East,  but  was  as  violent  here  as  -there.  The 
first  bone  of  contention  was  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society  in  New  York,  which  bid  fair  to  supplant  the  Assem- 
bly's Board  in  Philadelphia.  Other  roots  of  bitterness  soon 
sprang  up,  chiefly  Abolitionism  and  New  England  theology, 
with  charges  and  counter-charges  abounding  in  evil  surmises 
and  exaggerations,  until  Ephraim  and  Judah  both  seemed  to 
become  Ishmaelites. 

Dr.  Wilson  came  to  feel  very  doubtful  in  regard  to  the  fruit 
of  the  revival.  In  1843  I  visited  some  of  the  chief  churches 
of  Ohio  to  add  to  the  endowment  of  the  New  Albany  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  The  first  week  in  March  I  spent  a  Sabbath 
with  my  classmate.  Rev.  Dr.  Jared  M.  Stone,  in  a  communion 
in  his  church  at  Springdale.  The  state  of  feeling  on  the  Sab- 
bath seemed  to  justify  keeping  up  meetings  through  the  week, 
and  over  thirty  were  added  to  the  cj^urch.  The  last  week  I 
was  in  this  church,  I  was  entertained  by  Dr.  Wilson,  and  had 
much  conversation  with  him.  He  was  very  feeble,  and  very 
tender  and  spiritual.  He  seemed  to  have  the  humility  and 
simplicity  of  a  little  child.  On  the  Sabbath  after  dinner  he 
spoke  at  length,  saying,  in  substance,  that  he  had  felt  that  its 
results,  like  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  were  not  un- 
mixed good,  but  he  had  come  to  feel  that  in  this  he  was  wrong. 
He  spoke  of  the  facts    that   nearly  all   of  the  converts  had  per- 


24  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

severed,  and  a  large  number  had  become  ministers.  He  said,  in. 
view  of  the  good  feeling  in  Iiis  church  at  that  time  and  for  some 
time  past,  he  would  be  glad  to  have  the  service  protracted 
through  the  week,  and  this  was  done  with  good  results.  I 
preached  ten  sermons,  and  he  was  deeply  interested,  though  too 
feeble  to  attend  evening  meetings.  His  fellowship  on  that 
occasion  was  an  inspii^ation  and  a  delight.  He  lived  until 
August,  1846. 

Although  I  have  spoken  so  favorably  of  the  revival  of 
1828,  I  feel  like  adding  we  live  in  better  times.  We  have 
better  preaching  and  Bible-class  and  Sabbath-school  teaching, 
better  prayer-meetings,  more  Christian  work  by  men,  women 
and  grown  people,  larger  average  additions  to  the  Church,  more 
liberal  contributions  and  a  better  Christian  spirit.  There  is 
good  reasoa  to  believe  that  the  Church  has  entered  upon  a  great 
and  growing  advance  in  strong  faith,  persevering  zeal  and 
Christian  work,  which  may  give  us,  as  it  is  said  of  the  church 
of  John  Brown,  of  Haddington,  a  constant  revival.  In  some 
of  our  churches  it  is  so  already,  especially  where  our  women 
and  our  young  people  are  sowing  and  reaping  as  never  before. 


J'aator  oj  Ike  First  Presbyterian  Churchy  Cincinnati,  O.,  lHOS-lShiJ. 


EARLY    DAYS. 


Rev.  a.  S.  Dudley. 


The  place  given  me  on  the  program  does  not  imply  that 
I  am  to  consume  much  of  your  time  in  the  narration  of  my 
personal  recollections  of  the  Jirsi  half  oi  the  century. 

The  early  days  suggest  the  morning.  He  who  rises  before 
the  sun  and  confronts  the  Orient  has  a  vision  of  the  freshest  and 
most  beautiful  scene  in  this  universe  of  beauty,  w^hich  God  has 
created.  The  morning  stars  sparkle  with  a  brilliancy  peculiarly 
their  own.  Then  they  pale  before  the  deepening  glow  of  the 
purpling  dawn.  But  when  the  full  glory  of  the  day  has  come 
and  the  sun  stands  in  the  zenith,  and  the  world  is  aglow  with, 
light,  the  beauty  of  the  dawn  is  no  longer  seen.  It  is  only 
remembered.  There  is  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  the  early 
days  we  here  commemorate,  but  the  event  shows  across  the 
most  illustrious  century  in  all  the  history  of  the  human  race. 
The  discoveries,  inventions,  advancements,  enlightenments,, 
civilization  achievements,  coming  within  this  century,  loom  up 
as  so  many  mountains  of  light  and  pinnacles  of  glory,  and  inter- 
cept our  vision  and  arrest  our  attention  as  we  turn  to  look 
backward.  Our  historian  of  the  event  we  celebrate,  has  re- 
minded us  of  the  fragmentary,  defective,  partially  preserved, 
and  hence  unsatisfactory  records,  of  the  important  transaction. 
He  has  faithfully  collected  the  scattered  rays  of  light  issuing 
from  these  records,  and  in  his  historical  lense  has  combined 
them  into  a  beam  of  clear  light,  revealing  the  outlines  of  that 
which  was  then  accomplished.  We  may  regret  that  we  can 
see  the  deed  only  in  outline,  and  that  we  must  fill  in  the  details 
according  to  our  fancy.  How  much  we  desire  a  more  complete 
picture  ;  how  much  we  desire  to  see  the  actors  more  clearly. 
But  the  complete  picture  is  not  necessary  to  our  appreciation 
of  the  grandeur  of  the  deed.    The  thing  done  is  greater  far  than 


26  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

the  actors,  and  the  deed  overshadows  all  features  of  mere 
personalities.  That  which  these  pioneers  did  on  the  16th  of 
October,  1790,  reveals  to  us  more  of  their  character  than  any 
description  of  them  could  convey.  They  founded  a  Christian 
church  in  the  ^vilderness.  This  transaction  shows  that  there 
was  •A.faitJi  in  those  early  days,  and  it  further  shows  that  there 
was  then  a  faithful  people.  This  stone  of  faith  and  fidelity 
they  laid  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  community  and  com- 
monwealth they  began  to  form.  It  is  the  chief  corner-stone 
thereof. 

But  a  stone  is  not  an  adequate  figure  of  the  faith  and 
resulting  fidelity  of  our  pioneers.  It  is  not  accurately  descrip- 
tive nor  sufficiently  representative  of  the  capacity  for  achieve- 
ment which  those  early  settlers  demonstrated.  A  stone  is 
passive,  quiescent,  staple  and  resistant.  It  is  "steadfast  and 
immovable,"  but  not  "abounding"  in  activities.  We  must 
choose  another,  or  an  additional  figure.  Hence,  let  us  say,  this 
faith  of  the  pioneers  was  a  germ.  It  was  the  central  element, 
the  origin  and  potency  of  the  life  and  growth  of  the  newly 
founded  community,  it  was  the  dojfiinant  and  determinative 
element  as  well,  the  formative  power,  the  accretive  energy  in 
the  social  life.  Uniting  the  characteristics  of  this  elemental 
faith,  we  may  call  it  the  essential  element  of  the  new  society. 
It  was  real,  forceful,  and  hence  successful.  Without  it  the 
new  commonwealth  had  not  been, —  at  least,  it  had  not  been 
perpetuated.  Most  certainly  it  had  not  been  that  beneficient 
and  potent  entity  in  which  abide  the  excellencies  of  our  Chris- 
tian commonwealth. 

More  specifically,  the  faith  of  the  pioneers  was  a  Christian 
faith,  and  there  flowed  from  it  as  from  a  full  fountain  a  beauti- 
ful stream  of  Christian  activities.  It  was  a  theological  faith — 
more  than  an  excellent  humanitarianism  begetting  humane 
results.  It  was  that  and  much  more.  It  cherished  man's 
brotherhood  by  holding  the  fatherhood  of  God,  and  making 
prominent  the  truth  of  God's  supremacy.  Rev.  James  Kemper 
was  a  man  to  guard  an  essential  point  like  this.  He  was  not 
entirely  satisfied  with  the  terms  of  organization,  because  they 
-jcontained   no  reference    to   the  standards   of  the   Presbyterian 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  "At 

church.  He  desired  a  more  substantial  anchorage  to  a  staple 
denomination  of  Christian  believers.  This  defect  was  sup- 
plied, as  Dr.  Monfort  well  remarks  ;  then  the  church  was 
recognized  and  enrolled  by  the  Presbytery,  and  then  Elders 
were  elected  and  ordained  and  installed. 

So  much  for  the  specific  character  of  this  faith  of  the 
pioneers.     What  of  its  vitality  andyorceP 

It  must  measure  arms  with  other  potent  forces.  Ho-w  did 
it  meet  the  commercial  spirit?  How  did  it  perpetuate  itself, 
and  by  what  means?  This  property,  this  ground  on  which  we 
now  stand,  has  never  had  a  secular  use.  Before  one  dollar  was 
paid  for  any  of  these  suiTounding  lots,  the  claim  of  the  Supreme 
God  to  this  property  was  acknowledged — and  it  was  dedicated 
to  Him  and  to  His  church.  Its  redemption  was  from  the  first, 
it  was  effectual — it  has  continued.  The  currents  of  commerce 
have  swept  in  around  this  spot,  and  the  winds  of  trade  have 
beat  upon  it.  It  remains  untouched.  The  hand  on  the  lofty 
spire  still  points  upward,  and  reminds  the  busy  men  of  the 
w^orld  of  the  God  who  is  in  the  Heavens,  and  who  ruleth  over 
all. 

The  faith  and  resulting  fidelity  of  the  founders  of  this 
church  vindicates  its  vitality  and  virtue,  by  the  resistance,  in 
those  early  days,  to  the  popular  and  forceful  views  and  senti- 
ments prevailing  in  the  world  at  large.  This  church  was 
founded  in  the  davs  of  the  French  Revolution,  before  that 
mighty  movement  had  reached  its  dreadful  and  disastrous 
climax.  The  infidel  politics  of  France  were  trumpeted  the 
world  around  as  the  enfranchisement  of  man  —  all  faith  was 
decried  —  human  reason  was  deified,  and  revealed  religion 
doomed  to  destruction.  Deism  in  Scotland  and  England, — 
and  Rationalism  in  Germany,  were  commended  as  the  highest 
wisdom  and  offering  the  greatest  excellence.  The  demoraliza- 
tion following  the  Revolutionary  war  was  broadly  contaminat- 
ing the  society  of  the  young  Republic.  The  spirit  abroad 
united  to  any  and  every  experiment,  political  and  religious, 
which  the  human  mind  could  invent.  The  faith  of  the  pioneers 
resisted  all  this,  stood  in  the  "old  ways,"  adopted  the  old 
belief,  and  submitted  to  its  transfusing  power. 


28  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

The  result  demonstrates  their  wisdom.  Upon  what  was 
then  the  virgin  soil  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  there  has  come 
a  population  the  most  active,  enterprising  and  enlightened  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  Its  sole  bond  of  union  and  power  of 
organization,  and  accretive  force,  is  the  simple  faith  of  the 
pioneers.  Viewed  in  the  results,  what  force  can  be  compared 
to  this?  Most  beneficient  will  be  the  results  of  this  Centennial 
celebration  if  the  earnest  enquirers  for  truth  in  this  generation 
will  have  their  attention  directed  to  the  central  force  in  our 
•Christian  civilization. 


EARLY  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK. 


Rev.  B.  W.  Chidlaw. 

I  stand  before  you  to-day  with  much  trepidation  and  much' 
fear.  I  have  a  wide  field  to  traverse  and  but  a  short  time  for 
the  journey.  The  records  of  the  early  history  of  Bible  instruc- 
tion are  not  very  abundant  and  not  always  reliable.  To  err  is 
human.  The  first  Sunday-school  was  established  over  a  hun- 
dred years  ago  by  Robert  Raikes  of  England.  When  the  men. 
and  women  of  God  laid  the  foundation  of  this  first  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  almost  unbroken  wilderness  of  the  north-west 
territory  the  Sunday-school  had  been  at  work  for  ten  years. 

In  1783,  Rev.  Thomas  Charles,  of  Bila,  North  Wales,  in 
the  spirit  and  with  the  purpose  of  Robert  Raikes,  introduced 
Sunday-schools  into  that  principality.  These  schools  increased 
the  number  of  Bible  readers  to  such  an  extent,  that  there  was  a 
famine  for  the  Divine  Word.  This  need  was  represented  in 
the  anxiety  of  Mary  Janes,  the  Welsh  peasant  girl,  to  possess  a 
Bible.  So  Great  was  her  desire  to  possess  a  copy  of  the  Word 
of  Life,  that  she  walked  twenty  miles  over  the  mountains  to 
the  home  of  Mr.  Charles,  that  she  might  secure  a  Bible.  This 
incident  led  to  the  formation  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  that  has  already  published  and  distributed  millions  of 
copies  of  the  Divine  Word  all  over  Christendom  and  on 
heathen  shores. 

In  1790,  the  first  organized  effort  to  establish  and  sustain 
Sunday-schools  was  formed  in  Philadelphia,  led  by  Bishop 
White,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Qiiakers,  Presby- 
terians, Methodists,  Lutherans  and  Baptists,  cordially  uniting. 
Several  schools  were  established.  The  teachers  were  employ- 
ed at  a  salary  of  eighty  dollars  a  year.  In  1824,  the  American 
Sunday-school  Union  was  established  on  the  basis,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  the  organization  of  1790.     In  1791,  Mrs.  Lake,  the 


30  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

wife  of  a  soldier  at  the  stockade,  a  military  post  where  Mari- 
etta now  stands,  gathered  the  children  of  the  garrison  and  from 
the  log  cabins  protected  by  it,  and  gave  them  Bible  instruction 
on  the  Sabbath-day.  Recently  a  monument  was  erected  to  her 
memory  by  the  Sunday-schools  of  Washington  County,   Ohio. 

Of  the  introduction  of  Sunday-schools  into  Cincinnati 
and  their  early  history,  another  will  speak  during  these  Cen- 
tennial services. 

In  1836,  when  employed  in  Sunday-school  missionary 
labor  in  Butler  county,  I  was  invited  to  a  gathering  of  Sunday- 
schools  in  Wesley  Chapel,  Cincinnati.  That  Spacious  edifice 
was  crowded  by  teachers,  scholars  and  friends.  With  a  well 
known  Methodist  preacher  of  the  time,  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  making  my  first  Sunday-school  address  in   Cincinnati. 

In  1842,  the  Sunday-schools  held  a  union  celebration  and 
the  demonstration  of  the  Sunday-schools,  teachers  and  officers 
thronged  the  streets,  marching  with  banners  and  song.  Ad- 
dresses were  delivered  in  several  churches  to  crowded  and 
interested  audiences.  The  procession  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  occasion  showed,  that  nearly  half  a  century  ago  this  city 
had  many  Sunday-schools  and  hosts  of  friends  devoted  and 
earnest  in  their  support.  A  few  years  later  I  attended  a  mass 
Sunday-school  meeting  held  in  the  two-horned  church  fronting 
on  ]\Iain  street,  the  predecessor  of  this  magnificent  House  of 
the  Lord,  the  tabernacle  of  the  Most  High.  The  galleries 
were  crowded  by  teachers  and  scholars,  and  the  ground  floor 
with  interested  friends. 

Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  a  prince 
of  preachers,  delivered  an  eloquent  and  instructive  discourse 
on  the  power  of  early  Bible  teaching,  on  building  character 
and  forming  habits,  preparing  children  for  the  duties  of  life 
and  the  awards  of  eternity. 

I  found  in  an  old  paper  of  1815,  that  a  few  christian 
people  in  the  city  of  Zanesville,  organized  a  Sunday-school  in 
the  Court  house.  There  were  churches  in  Zanesville,  and  there 
were  pastors  there  at  that  day,  but  it  seems  the  pastors  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  Bible  teaching  on  the  Sabbath-day.  They 
regarded  it  a  profanation  of  the^day,  and   the  church  door  was 


PRESBVTERIAX     CEXTEXXIAL.  31 

not  opened  to  welcome  this  heaven  born  agency  of  Jesus- 
Christ.  But,  any  way,  a  few  christian  men  started  a  Sunday- 
school  They  had  four  teachers  and  forty-five  scholars.  That 
was  in  1815.  That  was  the  first  Sunday-school,  so  far  as  I 
know,  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 

As  we  look  around  us  and  see  the  innumerabl  Sunday- 
schools,  should  we  not,  on  this  Centennial  day,  give  thanks  to 
God. 

I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  first  Sunday-school  in  Cin- 
cinnati. When  I  was  a  student  at  the  grammar  school,  near 
Gambier,  I  became  interested  in  Sunday-school.  I  went  from 
my  log  cabin  in  Delaware  County  with  the  love  of  the  Lord 
Jesus    Christ  in  my  heart. 

In  1829  I  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  log 
cabin.  Soon  after  I  became  a  church  member  a  dear  father 
in  Israel  said  to  me,  "My  boy  I  am  glad  you  have  united 
with  the  church  ;  It  rejoices  our  hearts  to  see  a  young  man  give 
himself  to  the  Lord  ;  And  now,"  says  he,  "my  young  friend,  if 
you  want  to  become  a  christian  and  grow  up  in  grace  you  must 
begin  to  work  for  Jesus  Christ."  My  soul  responded, "What  can 
I  do,  the  son  of  a  poor  widow  ?"  "Now,"  says  he,  "let  us  be- 
gin. We  will  start  a  Sunday-school.  You  will  take  the  Eng- 
lish side  and  I  will  take  the  Welsh  side." 

He  had  the  old  people,  I  had  the  young  people.  We 
worked  there  together,  and  fifty  years  afterwards,  in  1879,  a 
few  only  remained.  The  old  Sunday-school  Missionary  was 
invited  to  be  present.  We  had  three  days  of  a  semi-centennial 
celebration,  commemorating  the  beginning  of  that  little  vSun- 
day-school  in  the  log  cabin  in  the  wilderness.  What  has  been 
the  result  in  that  community?  In  that  township  they  had 
faithful  men  and  women  working  for  God,  and  the  Sunday- 
school  has  been  an  important  factor  in  the  religious  and  social 
condition  of  the  community.  There  [has  never  been  a  saloon 
in  the  township.  There  has  never  been  a  native  pauper. 
There  has  never  been  a  man  or  woman  convicted  of  crime  and 
sentenced  to  the  state  prison.  I  came  back  again  to  Cincin- 
nati. In  1336,  I  became  missionary  of  the  Sunday-school 
Union.     I   am   still   in  the  blessed   work.     Fifty -four  years  a 


32  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

missionary  trying  to  gather  the  children,  youth  and  adults  of 
my  country  into  the  Bible  schools,  placing  the  word  of  God 
into  their  hands,  giving  them  all  the  advantage  possible  to 
•study  and  search  the  scriptures. 

But  I  will  not  detain  you  longer.  The  Sunday-school  is 
an  institution  that  has  the  approval  of  the  church.  Let  us  ex- 
tend the  beneficent  influence  throughout  this  land  in  all  its 
length  and  breadth.  i 


MY  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


Miss   Harriet  Wilson. 


I  will  ask  you  to  go  with  me  this  afternoon  to  the  square 
•old-fashioned  "meeting  house"  of  the  olden  time,  which  stood 
about  a  square  West  of  the  long,  narrow  Main  street,  of  the 
even  then  old  village  of  Reading.  Look  at  its  unpainted  brick 
walls,  with  four  large  windows  on  each  side  ;  see  its  old  gray 
belfry,  and  hear  its  harsh-toned  bell,  which  for  many  years 
called  the  people  to  worship  in  the  only  church  edifice  in  a 
large  extent  of  country. 

The  nearest  one  on  the  North-west  being  that  of  Spring- 
dale,  which  ante-dated  that  of  Reading  by  many  years,  and 
claims  not  only  to  be  the  spiritual,  but  also  the  temporal 
mother  of  the  latter.  Pleasant  Ridge,  which  tomorrow  cele- 
brates its  Centennial,  was  the  nearest  one  on  the  South-east, 
and  was  also  some  miles  distant. 

True,  there  was  the  large,  dilapidated,  old  log  meeting 
house,  built  by  the  early  pioneer  Baptists,  on  the  hill  near  the 
present  suburb  of  Woodlawn,  but  for  some  time  no  regular 
services  had  been  held  there,  so  most  of  the  church -going  peo- 
ple of  those  years  attended  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Reading,  coming  from  all  directions,  in  all  sorts  of  convey- 
ances ;  in  large  farm  wagons,  various  kinds  of  one-horse  vehi- 
cles,very  few  in  carriages,  many  on  horse-back,  not  unfrequently 
two  riding  on  one  horse,  or,  as  one  little  girl  expressed  it,  "her 
brother  drove  and  her  mother  rode  on  behind,"  The  adjacent 
fences  made  convenient  hitching  places,  for  there  were  no  hired 
or  liveried  drivers  in  those  days.  Well  trodden  paths  across 
the  fields,  showed  that  many  were  glad  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  nearest  way  to  the  sanctuary. 

Entering  the  yard,  well  shaded  by  tall  locust  trees,  stepping 
on  one  of  the  huge  doorstones,  opening  one  of  the  heavy  doors, 


34  PRESBVTEKIAN     CEXTENNIAL. 

you  will  be  in  one  of  the  two  worn  aisles  between  which  are 
two  rows  of  long,  narrow,  but  high  backed  pews,  while  on 
either  side  next  the  windows  are  large  square  pews,  always 
chosen  by  the  younger  people  for  the  glimpses  of  blue  sky  and 
green  trees  to  be  had  while  sitting  in  them.  At  the  North  end, 
enclosed  by  white  banisters, were  two  flights  of  narrow, winding 
stairs,  leading  to  the  high  antiquated  pulpit,  with  its  red  hang- 
ings and  velvet  cushioned  stand,  on  which  lay  the  large  Bible, 
from  whose  sacred  pages  words  of  counsel,  warning  and  instruc- 
tion, had  been  proclaimed  for  many  years,  being  largely  instru- 
mental in  making  that  region  a  center  of  Christian  light  and 
civilization. 

Though  the  regularly  settled  pastors  were  very  few  in 
number,  when  compared  with  the  fluctuating  present  minis- 
terial stay,  yet  situated  as  that  church  was  it  had  favorable 
opportunities  for  hearing  the  best  ministers  of  not  only  the 
city,  but  of  the  entire  State.  Could  the  old  pulpit  have 
spoken,  it  would  have  told  of  many  names  whose  life-work 
and  influence  did  much  to  make  such  a  Centennial  of  Presby- 
terianism  as  this  which  we  are  now  having  in  this  city,  possible. 
Among  the  many  honored  ones  were  all  the  early  and  gifted 
Professors  of  Lane  Seminary,  for  //laf  church  was  closely 
identified  ivith,  and  loyal  to  that  institution.  Many  of  the 
students  who  were  afterwards  men  of  mark,  distinguished  for 
their  labors,  not  only  in  home  fields,  but  also  in  foreign  lands, 
preached  many  of  their  first  sermons  in  that  old  church. 

Only  a  few  days  since  I  found  a  faded,  yellow  manuscript 
book,  entitled  "The  Female  Benevolent  Society  of  Reading," 
dated  April  13th,  1841,  with  the  following  preamble  : 

"Feeling  desirous  that  the  Lord  Jesus  may  say  of  us,  as 
He  said  of  Mary,  'She  hath  done  what  she  could.''  We,  whose 
names  are  hereunto  annexed,  agree  to  pay  the  sums  of  money, 
or  the  articles  affixed  to  our  names,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting 
indigent  Theological  Students  ofLane  Seminary." 

The  amounts  subscribed  and  the  work  done,  show  greater 
self-denial  than  do  many  of  the  thousands  which  have  since 
been  donated  for  the  same  purpose.  Out  of  the  fifty  names 
only  five  are  now  living.     The  six  of  our  own  household  who 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  35 

belonged  to  it  are  all  dead.  The  workers  die  but  the  work 
goes  on.  The  Sunday-school  was  the  pioneer  one  in  all  that 
region,  and  though  lacking  in  many  appliances  of  modern 
times,  yet  much  good  and  faithful  work  was  done  there  ;  amid 
many  discouragements,  and  many  who  shared  its  teachings 
have  had  reason  to  rise  up  and  call  it  "blessed."  Our  farm 
home  two  miles  below  Reading,  was  in  a  neighborhood  where 
Sunday  was  regarded  as  a  day  for  hunting,  fishing,  visiting 
and  lounging,and  it  was  deemed  almost  an  unpardonable  innova- 
tion for  any  one  to  do  otherwise  ;  but  with  the  old  New  England 
training  of  the  parents  oitr  then  large  family  was  a  notable 
exception  to  the  prevailing  custom  ;  the  parental  laws  were 
those  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  all  who  were  large  enough 
were  required  not  only  to  attend  Sabbath-school  but  also  to 
stay  at  church,  hired  help  not  being  exempted,  and  for  many 
years  the  large  blue  wagon  drawn  by  its  strong  horses,  carried 
not  only  the  home  folks,  but  there  was  always  room  for  not 
only  one,  but  for  many  more  of  those  who  otherwise  could  not 
have  gone.  To  sit  crowded  was  not  considered  a  discomfort 
in  those  days. 

To  the  people  of  the  village  that  Sunday-load  was  a  fam- 
iliar and  looked  for  sight,  its  coming  was  expected  to  be  as 
regular  as  the  ringing  of  the  church  bell.  Frequently  a  second 
and  smaller  vehicle  would  bring  another  load  in  time  for  the 
regular  services,  filled  with  those  gathered  up  by  the  way. 
Only  a  few  years  since,  a  distinguished  ex-Senator  in  a  dis- 
tant State,  told  me  "that  he  had  never  forgotten  the  Sunday 
when  he  had  hurriedly  alighted  in  front  of  the  church,  and  was 
hastening  into  the  yard,  my  father  called  him  back  and  bade 
him  assist  a  rather  forlorn  looking  woman  and  her  baby  from 
the  spring  wagon, — all  the  harder  for  him  to  do,  knowing  that 
his  boy  friends  were  laughing  at  the  forced  exhibition  of  his 
unwilling  gallantry."  Persons  or  position  were  not  allowed  to 
be  considei"ed  in  such  cases. 

The  methods  of  Sunday-school  instruction,  particularly 
those  of  the  Primary  scholars,  were  then  very  different  from 
those  of  the  present  time.  Primers  and  spelling-books  were 
then   used   for  the   instruction    of   the    little   ones,   who    were 


36  PRESBYTERIAN     CEXTENXIAL. 

chilled  in  their  A  B  C's  etc.  Occasionally  a  progressive  teacher 
would  supplement  those  teachings  by  asking,  "Who  was  the 
first  man?"  and  other  similar  questions.  Being  very  small 
when  I  entered  the  Sunday-school,  the  kind,  old  superintendent 
led  me  to  a  class  of  little  ones  taught  by  a  yoimg  lady,  who 
kindly  took  me  on  her  lap  and  had  me  say  the  A  B  C's,  suc- 
ceeding with  those  she  had  me  spell  some  short  word,  and  my 
first  day's  lesson  was  finished  apparently  to  her  satisfaction, 
but  not  to  mine.  I  could  hardly  restrain  my  disgust  and  indig- 
nation, until  I  reached  home,  and  declared  emphatically  "that 
I  would  never  go  to  that  vSunday-school  again."  I  could  read 
in  the  Testament,  and  to  be  considered  a  "little  know-nothing" 
and  put  in  the  Primer  was  too  great  an  indignity  to  be  borne. 
I  got  no  sympathy  from  the  home  folks  but  was  blamed  and 
laughed  at  for  not  having  sense  or  courage  enough  to  tell  the 
teacher  that  I  could  read.  Children  did  not  rule  in  those  days, 
so  I  had  to  go  back  the  next  Sunday.  Explanations  were  made 
and  I  was  allowed  to  read  to  my  entire  satisfaction.  Commit- 
ting verses  to  memory  was  the  usual  Sunday-school  lesson  for 
the  larger  scholars,  the  Sunday-school  Union  question  books 
also  being  used.  Frequently  bright  scholars  would  recite 
whole  chapters  and  hymns  at  one  time,  doubtless  a  good  thing 
for  the  one  who  thus  laid  up  large  treasures  of  Scriptural 
knowledge,  but  certainly  not  for  the  other  members  of  the  class 
who  were  waiting  for  their  turns  or  thinking  of  other  matters. 
Many  of  the  books  in  the  Sunday-school  library  were  dull, 
prosy  biographies  of  unnaturally  good  children,  who  all  died 
young,  and  those  were  left  uncalled  for  when  more  interesting 
ones  could  be  had,  and  though  few  of  them  were  written  in  an 
attractive  style,  yet  they  were  eagerly  taken  and  in  many  cases 
read  and  re-read  with  interest  and  improvement,  w^hich  is  not 
always  the  case  with  the  modern  Sunday-school  library, —  all 
the  books,  bibles,  etc.,  lay  around  on  the  window-sills  and  the 
seats,  until  a  comparative  stranger  went  around  with  a  sub- 
scription paper  and  raised  funds  to  purchase  a  book-case, 
which  did  good  service  as  long  as  the  school  existed.  In  those 
days  of  hard  work  and  kittle  money  some  persons  excused 
themselves  from  sending  their  boys  to  Sunday-school  on  the 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  37 

plea  "that  they  had  no  shoes,"  so  at  one  time  my  father  had 
some  of  my  brothers  go  barefoot,  to  have  others  willing  to  do 
likewise.  There  were  hard  lessons  and  stern  truths  inculcated 
in  those  days,  but  doubtless  many  have  lived  more  efficient  and 
useful  lives  from  such  training. 

When  pretty  things  were  not  plenty,  it  was  no  easy  or 
pleasant  duty  for  young  girls  to  be  required  to  give  up  the 
pleasure  of  wearing  what  they  had  for  the  reason  that  others 
who  could  not  have  the  same,  might  feel  badly,  and  perhaps 
stay  at  home  and  thus  lose  a  pleasure  which  they  other- 
wise could  enjoy.  Sunday-school  picnics  were  then  unknown, 
but  Fourth  of  July  celebrations  were  bright  days,  even  though 
minus  flags,  fireworks,  etc.  The  first  one  I  remember  was  held 
in  the  well  shaded  church  grounds.  Parents  and  children 
were  there  in  large  numbers,  there  were  speeches  and  singing, 
and  the  crowning  act  of  all  was  the  distribution  of  a  barrel  of 
old  fashioned  ginger  cakes,  each  child  receiving  two,  plenty  ot 
water  was  handed  around  in  tin  cups,  and  all  went  home  satis- 
fied and  happy,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  the  children 
of  the  present  time,  even  after  their  elaborate  entertainments 
of  cake,  lemonade  and  ice  cream.  It  does  not  require  the 
Phonograph  to  bring  back  the  old  familiar  psalms  and  hymns 
as  heard  in  my  youthful  days.  The  leader  standing  in  front  of 
the  pulpit,  started  the  old  tunes,  such  as  "Arlington,"  "St.  INIar- 
tin's  Mear,"  and  "Windham,"  the  latter  seems  closely  associated 
v(^ith  "Broad  is  the  road  that  leads  to  death,"  and  also  with  the 
penitential  melody  of  the  51st  psalm,  the  often  called  for  fa- 
vorite of  a  melancholy  old  elder  whose  religion  was  of  the 
dyspeptic  sort,  not  at  all  attractive  to  the  juvenile  part  of  the 
congregation.  The  practice  of  "lining"  out  the  hymns  lasted 
only  a  few  years,  but  there  were  some  laughable  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  custom.  Once  the  sing-song  tones  of  the  reader 
led  several  persons  to  think  that  the  singing  was  going  on,  so 
they  joined  in  with  energy,  but  the  sudden  halt  showed  a 
realization  of  their  mistake.  The  old  Fugueing  tunes  such  as 
"Lennox"  and  "Pisgah"  were  always  liked,  especially  the 
latter,  with  its  high  counter  or  female  tenor,  whose  execution 
was   a   marvel   to   childish  ears.     Occasionally  some   cheerful 


38  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

common  meter  hymn  was  sung  to  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  ajid 
"When  marshalled  on  the  nightly  plain,"  to  "Bonny  Doon," 
would  prove  quite  a  musical  treat  and  be  heartily  sung  by  the 
children. 

Finally  some  of  the  more  progressive  parents  hired  a  good 
singing  teacher  and  a  regular  weekly  singing  school  was  or- 
ganized, and  those  who  attended,  were  they  grown  up  or 
juveniles,  were  made  to  understand  that  good  work  and  not 
mere  fun  or  pastime  was  to  be  the  order  of  the  evening.  After 
a  time  a  good  choir  was  organized,  and  seats  arranged  for 
them,  much  to  the  displeasure  of  some  of  the  "old  fogy  ele- 
ment," who  are  to  be  found  everywhere,  but  at  length  they 
had  to  succumb  to  the  inevitable,  being  made  to  feel  that  the 
world  was  marching  on,  and  soon  the  grand  old  anthems,  with 
instrumental  accompaniments,  became  a  necessary  part  of  the 
regular  Sunday  services,  adding  much  to  their  interest  and 
efficiency.  The  Sunday-school  hymns  and  tunes  were  gradu- 
ally changed  to  something  better  suited  to  children's  voices, 
and  well  do  I  remember  the  welcome  advent  of  the  now  almost 
obsolete  and  forgotten  "There  is  a  happy  land,"  "Far,  far 
away,"  etc.  My  brother  heard  it  sung,  and  immediately  taught 
the  words  and  music  to  our  Sunday-school,  even  before  it  came 
in  the  first  -number  of  the  little  anniversary  hymns.  Soon  the 
children  were  singing  it  on  the  streets,  men  whistling  it  at 
their  work,  and  yet  none  tired  of  it,  until  other  Sunday-school 
hymns  and  tunes  came  to  take  their  place.  On  Communion 
Sundays  the  church  was  usually  crowded,  the  more  recently 
organized  church  uniting  with  ours  on  these  occasions.  Many 
of  the  aged  but  pleasant  faces  of  some  who  always  sat  on 
chairs  in  the  open  space  near  the  pulpit,  are  photographed  on 
memory's  tablets.  The  portrait  of  one  of  the  "Mothers  in 
Israel"  hangs  now  in:  the  Mercantile  Library.  Another  old 
lady  who  sometimes  came  there,  was  an  object  of  childish 
wonder,  for  the  dangers  and  sorrows  she  had  endured  in  her 
early  pioneer  life  in  the  Millcreek  Valley.  Her  child  having 
been  killed  by  the  Indians,  she  fled  with  a  feather-bed  wrapped 
around  her  to  shield  herself  from  their  arrows,  quite  a  distance 
to  her  husband,  who  was  working  where  Hartwell  now  stands, 


PRESBYTERIAX     CENTENNIAL.  39 

fortunately  he  had  his  gun  with  him  and  thus  saved  her  life  as 
well  as  his  own. 

As  is  usually  the  case  extra  cares  and  responsibilities  of 
the  church  and  benevolent  work  fell  on  the  few,  and  many 
hours  of  hard  and  self-denying  labors  were  spent  by  those,  who 
during  all  those  years,  helped  clean  and  renovate  the  old  build- 
ing. At  one  time,  a  student,  home  for  his  College  vacation, 
while  assisting  in  cleaning  the  large  windows,  had  his  hand 
badly  cut  by  the  broken  glass,  leaving  a  permanent  scar  as  his 
reward  for  his  church  cleaning  efforts. 

During  those  years  the  Temperance  and  all  other  Chris- 
tian and  Philanthropic  causes  received  much  attention,  and  the 
old  edifice  was  always  open  for  their  meetings.  To  show  how  a 
little  thing  may  leave  a  lasting  impression,  I  will  give  an  inci- 
dent of  my  first  effort  at  benevolent  work.  There  was  to  be  a 
large  Temperance  celebration  and  it  was  decided  that  our  so- 
ciety must  have  a  banner,  so  a  girl  friend  and  I  were  sent 
forth  to  raise  the  necessary  funds.  With  a  properly  drawn 
subscription  paper  we  started  forth  with  sanguine  expectations- 
Going  first  to  the  wealthy  and  childless  old  deacon,  who  was 
president  of  the  Temperance  Society,  we  were  amazed  at  meet- 
ing with  almost  a  positive  refusal,  but  after  much  talking  on 
our  part  and  a  long  delay  on  his,  he  gave  us  a  ^tiarter  of  a 
Dollar.  Thoroughly  disgusted  and  disappointed  we  gave  up 
the  task  and  never  since  have  I  zviUingly  accepted  any  such 
work. 

Years  afterwards,  when  the  old  deacon's  will  was  con- 
tested and  much  of  his  money,  which  he  left  to  charitable 
objects,  was  spent  in  the  Courts,  I  felt  that  it  was  what  could 
have  been  expected.  There  were  lights  and  shadows,  sunshine 
and  clouds,  as  are  found  everywhere  in  this  world,  and  though 
there  were  no  marriage  ceremonies  in  the  old  church,  yet  our 
minister  had  his  full  complement  of  weddings  elsewhere,  and 
memory  brings  back  the  names  and  looks  of  many  happy 
couples,  who  in  their  bridal  attire  walked  proudly  up  the  aisles 
the  Sunday  after  their  home  wedding,  making  what  was  then 
termed  "their  appearance,"  quite  a  saving  of  time,  as  well  as 
money,  when  compared  with   the  modern  custom  of  wedding 


40  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

trips,  bridal  presents,  cards,  etc.  The  congregation,  particu- 
larly the  younger  portion  of  it,  were  very  careful  to  be  in  their 
seats  in  time  to  see  the  "entree,"  a  trying  ordeal  for  the  parties, 
but  not  also  for  the  interested  lookers  on.  Many  of  those 
couples  have  finished  their  life  w^ork,  and  with  the  minister 
who  united  them,  have  gone  to  that  land  where  there  is  neither 
marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage,  and  those  who  remain  are 
nearing  the  sunset  land. 

Back  of  the  church  was  the  graveyard,  which  was  truly 
"God's  acre,"  given  by  the  founders  of  the  village,  and  where 
they  and  many  of  their  descendants  were  even  then  lying.  It 
was  a  favorite  strolling  place  for  the  young,  and  during  the 
fifteen  minutes'  recess  in  pleasant  weather,  many  were  the  un- 
written histories  read  by  the  older  ones  from  the  unmarked 
graves,  as  well  as  from  the  tombstones  and  monuments.  Life 
and  death  seemed  to  be  close  together  there.  One  long  row  of 
graves  told  of  the  blotting  out  of  a  large  family  in  a  few  days 
by  the  terrible  cholera.  One  hot  summer  day  the  church  was 
densely  packed  for  the  impressive  funeral  services  of  a  father? 
mother  and  two  children,  who  were  suddenly  swept  from  life 
by  the  treacherous  waters  of  Millcreek,  and  were  laid  in  one 
large  grave  in  the  old  burying  ground.  There  were  some 
quaint  and  inappropriate  epitaphs,  which,  when  read,  and 
re-read,  never  failed  to  impress  even  youthful  minds  with  their 
lack  of  fitness.  Memory  brings  back  many  funeral  processions 
of  mourning  friends  and  sympathizing  neighbors,  with  the 
primitive  lack  of  show  and  display,  passing  through  the  old 
gate,  some  bearing  their  dead  into  the  church  to  have  the  words 
of  consolation  and  Christian  hope  cheer  and  comfort  them, 
others  were  carried  directly  to  their  last  resting  place,  where 
the  old,  gray  sexton  stood  ready,  and  as  we  often  thought 
iisilUng  to  lay  them  away  in  the  bosom  of  Mother  Earth. 

There  are  tender  memories  of  youthful  forms  and  faces 
who  were  early  called  hence,  and  with  closed  eyes  and  folded 
hands  were  laid  aw^ay  in  the  old  church  yard  before  they  had 
known  life's  sorrows  and  cares.  Many  from  their  distant 
homes  have  been  brought  back  one  by  one  to  sleep  with  their 
kindred  in  the  old  burying  ground,  which  has  been  enlarged 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  41 

and  now  is  dotted  with  the  monuments  of  many,  who  in  life 
were  gathered  together  in  the  old  church. 

I  will  not  dwell  on  the  factions  and  dissensions  of  those 
years,  when  another  Presbyterian  church  was  erected  very  near 
the  old  one,  a  result  of  the  unfortunate  separation  of  religious 
bodies  which  should  have  been  united,  but  which  men^  not  God 
rent  asunder  ;  of  the  dissensions  and  heart  burning  differences 
of  those.times,  which  extended  even  to  the  children  as  well  as 
to  those  of  mature  years. 

One  good  result  may  have  been  that  it  made  us  hold  fast 
to  what  we  deemed  right,  and  be  firm  in  upholding  it.  Hap- 
pily those  stormy  times  are  past  and  gone,  as  we  trust  never  to 
return.  These  latter  days  are  surely  a  great  improvement  on 
those  days  of  so  called  religious  disputings  and  dissensions, 
and  the  children  of  the  former  combatants  now  dwell  toarether 
in  unity,  working  shoulder  to  shoulder  to  help  on  the  Gospel 
of  Peace  and  Truth. 

Our  old  farm  home,  being  only  seven  miles  from  the  city, 
was  a  stopping  place  for  all  Bible  Agents,  Colporteurs  and 
Ministers  attending  meeting,  etc.,  in  Cincinnati,  consequently 
we  became  acquainted  with  many  persons  apart  from  those  in 
connection  with  our  local  Church,  and  many  who  are  now 
known  as  valiant  and  successful  workers  for  God  and  human- 
ity, as  M^ell  as  many  others  who  have  been  called  to  their  re- 
ward, were  known  and  venerated  even  by  the  then  children- 
We  early  learned  to  know  that  there  was  a  great  difference 
betxveen  ministers  as  well  as  other  persons.  Much  could  be 
said  of  those  early  times,  it  was  said  by  Rev.  Horace  Bush- 
nell,  '■'■Uorscpitality,  was  as  much  a  christian  duty  as  Hospital- 
ity^^ and  certainly  no  officer  of  the  Humane  Society  was  ever 
needed  to  see  that  the  many  horses  left  at  the  farm,  by  their 
minister  owners,  had  proper  food  and  care. 

The  old  church  at  Reading,  wdiose  Semi-Centennial  was 
celebrated  in  the  autumn  of  1873,  is  gone,  not  a  vestige  of  the 
building  remains,  but  many  of  the  worshippers  lie  near  whei-e 
it  once   stood.     The   other  Presbyterian  edifice   has   been   de- 


42  PRESBYTERIAX  CENTENNIAI,. 

spoiled  of  its  bacred  association,   and    the  building  is  now  used 
for  secular  purposes.    Reading  is  now  really  a  foreign  town,  few 

native  Americans  live  there,  and  ivherc  used  to  be  long  stretches 
of  unimproved  meadow  land,  now  stand  blocks  of  houses  and 
busy  streets,  teeming  with  a  people  who  "know  not  Joseph." 
A  convent  stands  on  the  high  hill  overlooking  all  that  region, 
saloons  and  breweries  abound  ;  hardly  an  English  speaking 
church  of  any  kind  is  near  the  old  village.  Westward  the  power, 
wealth  and  strength  of  the  Protestant  church  have  gone,  and 
now  the  active,  prosperous  and  efficient  churches  of  Lockland, 
Wyoming,  Hartwell,  Maplewood,  with  even  those  at  Bond 
Hill  and  Elmwood,  which  were  formerly  embraced  in  the  old. 
limits,  show  that  the  spirit  and  energy  of  the  old  church  is  not 
dead,  but  still  lives  in  the  young  and  fresh  elements  found  there. 
Brick  and  mortar  will  crumble  and  fall ;  men  may  come 
and  go  ;  but  the  work  of  the  Lord  will  go  on  forever. 


FIRST    PRESHYTERIAN    CHURCH,  CINCINNATI,    O. 
Second  House  of  Worships  erected  ISIJ. 


NOTEWORTHY  INCIDENTS. 


PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  THE  FIRST  PRESBY- 
TERIAN CHURCH,  CINCINNATI,  BEGINNING 

IN   1838. 


By   a.  ].   Reynolds. 


In  Drake's  "Picture  of  Cincinnati,"  published  in  1815,  we 
find  this  description  of  the  old  "two-horned"  Presbyterian 
Church  : 

"The  new  Presbyterian  Church  is  a  very  spacious  brick 
edifice,  measuring  65  by  85  feet.  Its  eastern  and  narrower 
front  looks  toward  Main  street,  and  is  cornered  with  square 
turrets  crowned  with  cupolas.  From  the  rear  is  an  octagonal 
projection  for  a  vestry.  The  roof  is  of  common  form.  The 
height  from  the  ground  to  the  eaves  is  only  forty  feet ;  to  the 
top  of  the  cupola,  eighty  feet  ;  which  is  less  than  either  side 
including  the  towers  ;  and  hence  the  aspect  of  the  building  is 
low  and  heavy.  The  staircases  are  in  the  basement  of  the 
turrets  and  are  entered  without  passing  into  the  house.  The 
inside  is  divided  into  one  hundred  and  twelve  pews,  and  five 
capacious  aisles." 

Such  is  a  plain  prose  picture  of  the  building  of  the  First 
Church  which  preceded  the  present  structure.  But  to  my 
childish  eyes  in  1838,  it  was  invested  with  a  grandeur  and 
dignity  beyond  description.  "Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy 
of  the  whole  earth  is  Mount  Zion.  Walk  about  Zion,  and  go 
round  about  her  ;  tell  the  towers  thereof.  Mark  ye  well  her 
bulwarks,  consider  her  palaces,  that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  gener- 
ation following."  (Psalm  48.)  It  certainly  was  an  imposing 
and  majestic  building,  and  the  two  towers,  in  the  southern  one 
of  which  was  the  bell,  threw  a  halo  of  romance  around  it.    The 


44  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTEXXIAl.. 

bell  was  rung  by  David  Martin,  the  sexton,  in  a  systematic 
way,  which  came  from  long  practice.  Sometimes  the  boys  in 
attendance  at  the  Sabbath-school  would  ascend  the  winding 
stairs  to  the  belfry,  until  they  reached  the  bell,  hidden  in  its 
mysterious  recess,  and  covered  with  cobwebs.  The  interior  of 
the  church  was  spacious.  The  five  aisles  were  covered  with 
red  carpet.  A  gallery  ran  around  three  sides  of  the  house.  In 
this  gallery  the  Sabbath-school  met.  The  Superintendent  w^s 
Dr.  William  S.  Ridgeley,  His  manner  was  fatherly.  Miss 
Margaret  Flintham,  (afterwards  Mrs.  John  D.  Thorpe),  led  the 
singing  in  the  Sabbath-school.  Among  the  teachers  and  offic- 
ers, I  remember  James  Johnston,  James  M.  Johnston,  Alex.  AI. 
Johnston,  J.  Wilson  Johnston,  Samuel  Findley,  Edward  Patte- 

son,    William    McLaughlin,   John    D.    Thorpe,  Jones,. 

Mrs.  Mary  Brown,  Miss  Janet  Brown,  Misses  Flintham,  Miss 
Cist. 

The  elders  of  the  church  in  and  about  1838,  were  as  fol- 
lows :  George  C.  Miller,  John  F.  Keys,  James  Mclntyre,  J.  P. 
Harrison,  M.  D.,  James  Johnston,  Samuel  Newell,  John  D. 
Thorpe,  John  Baker,  Nathan  Baker  and  William  McLaughlin. 
David  E.  Wade  was  living  but  was  laid  aside  with  illness. 
The  prominent  families  in  the  church  were  of  course  those  of 
the  pastors  and  elders.  The  names  of  son.e  are  given  :  Tor- 
rence,  Irwin,  Schillenger,  Stitt,  Wade,  Wallace,  Culbertson, 
Baird,  Clopper,  Hopple,  Bates,  Montgomery,  Burgoyne,  Pullan, 
McAlpin,  Biggs,  Flint,  McCullough,  ISterrett,  Wheeler,  Funk. 

On  cold  winter  mornings  we  would  go  to  the  Sabbath- 
school  in  the  gallery  at  9  o'clock,  and  would  first  visit  the  large 
audience  room  below  to  get  warm  at  the  immense  stoves,  four 
of  them,  which  were  crammed  with  wood,  and  made  a  small 
space  around  excessively  warm,  while  the  main  part  of  the 
church  would  be  cold.  In  extremely  severe  weather  the 
ministers  would  preach  wrapped  in  their  cloaks,  standing  in 
the  lofty  pulpit  which  rose  like  a  tower.  The  pulpit  was  a 
very  high  one,  reaching  to  the  gallery,  and  was  ascended  by  a 
two  pairs  of  winding  stairs.  It  was  an  imposing  structure.  It 
stood  upon  a  pillar.     Underneath  it  was  the  entrance  to  the 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  45 

■session  room,  where  on  Saturdays,  many  children,  myself 
among  the  number,  used  to  be  taught  the  shorter  catechism  by 
the  venerable  Avhite-haired  pastor,  Rev.  Joshua  L.  Wilson.  As 
I  remember  him  he  was  a  man  of  striking  appearance,  about 
sixty-three  years  of  age,  holding  his  head  a  little  to  one  side  in 
consequence  of  being  hurt  by  the  accidental  overturning  of  a 
stage  coach  when  he  was  either  going  to  or  returning  from  a 
meeting  of  Synod  at  Chillicothe.  He  is  said  to  have  resembled 
General  Jackson  in  personal  appearance  and  dignity.  His 
voice  was  musical,  not  very  loud,  and  well  modulated.  His 
preaching  was  mostly  from  short  notes.  He  could  well  present 
the  terrors  of  the  law,  and  the  thunders  of  Sinai  sometimes 
rolled  from  the  pulpit.  But  he  was  more  at  home  in  present- 
ing the  appeals  of  the  Gospel,  and  frequently  when  doing  so, 
his  voice  would  tremble  and  his  eyes  fill  with  tears.  Yet  he 
never  lost  command  either  of  his  voice  or  of  his  emotions. 
His  death  occurred  August  14th,  1846,  after  a  brief  illness,  and 
his  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  church,  and  were  largely 
attended.  His  special  friend,  Rev.  L.  G.  Gaines,  preached  the 
funeral  sermon.  His  son  and  co-pastor.  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Wil- 
son, was  not  present  at  his  father's  death  and  funeral,  being 
away  on  a  distant  journey  to  Europe.  The  pulpit  was  draped 
in  black,  and  the  mourning  for  him  was  sincere  and  deep-felt. 

Before  proceeding  farther,  I  wish  to  say  a  word  with  re- 
gard to  Dr.  J.  L.  Wilson's  manner  of  conducting  his  Saturday 
catechetical  class.  He  opened  it  with  a  hymn,  starting  the 
tune  himself.  A  short  prayer  was  then  offered  by  him  and 
then  he  would. ask  the  questions  to  the  children  in  order.  He 
would  kindly  help  halting  ones,  and  would  explain  the  subjects 
under  discussion  in  a  familiar  manner.  He  always  would  have 
the  children  read  a  short  passage  from  the  Bible,  in  rotation  I 
think,  and  he  would  explain  this  in  like  manner.  These  early 
lessons  in  theology  were  so  deeply  impressed  upon  my  memory, 
that  I  never  forgot  them,  and  in  after  days,  when  I  went  to 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  I  found  they  formed  the  basis 
•of  the  instrvictions  of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge. 

Here  I  will  describe  the  communion  seasons.     They  were 


46  PUESI5VTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

indeed  sweet  and  solemn.  They  wei"e  marked  by  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  of  His  Holy  Spirit.  At  the  communion 
service,  long  tables  were  set  in  the  cross  aisles.  These  tables 
were  covered  with  pure  white  linen,  and  were  surrounded  with 
chairs  and  benches.  In  addition  to  the  tables,  the  side  pews 
to  the  right  and  left  of  the  pulpit  were  occupied  by  the  com- 
municants, and  these  were  so  numerous  as  to  require  a  separate 
administi-ation  of  the  ordinance  to  two  bands.  The  ministers 
descended  the  pulpit  and  took  their  places  at  a  lower  desk. 
The  precentor  at  communions  was  John  F.  Keys.  His  voice 
was  good,  and  I  can  yet  hear  him  start  the  tune  "  Windham''''  to 
the  hymn  "  'T  was  on  that  dark,  that  doleful  night."  This 
hymn  was  invariably  the  opening  one  at  communions.  The 
addresses  at  the  communion  by  the  pastors  were  always  solemn 
and  tender.  Sometimes  the  hymn  would  be  sung  to  the  tune 
"J/rfiT," 

"One  army  of  the  living  God, 

To  his  command  we  bow; 
Part  of  the  host  have  crossed  the  flood, 

And  part  are  crossing  now." 

A  friend  writes  :  "How  well  I  remember  John  F.  Keys^ 
the  precentor  and  chorister.  One  communion  Sunday  in  par- 
ticular he  was  lining  off  the  h3^mn 

'According  to  thy  gracious  word," 

and  when  he  came  to  read  the  verse 

'Gethsemane,  can  I  forget?" 

his  voice  failed  him  from  his  emotion.  The  impression  thus 
made  never  .left  me." 

I  remember  the  aged  men  and  women  of  that  day,  and  how 
they  appeared  to  be  clad  in  the  garments  of  salvation,  while 
with  joy  they  took  up  the  cup  of  the  Lord.  Well,  they  have 
all  crossed  the  flood  now,  and  we  shall  soon  follow  them. 

To  go  back  to  the  description  of  the  house.  In  the  gal- 
lery, opposite  the  pulpit,  sat  the  choir,  and  when  singing-time 

came,  they  stood  and  led  the  sacred  songs  under  the  direction 


PKESBVTEKIAN     CENTEXNIAI..  47 

of  Mr.  Simon,  a  portly  man,  who  sang  with  enthusiasm.  The 
congregation  joined  in  the  singing.  I  presume,  at  that  time  an 
organ  would  have  been  disapproved  of  by  a  majority  of  the 
people.  Before  the  coming  in  of  the  choir,  I  remember  that 
Mr.  Dent  stood  in  the  precentors  desk,  beneath  the  pulpit,  to 
lead  the  singing.  Mr.  Dent  removed  to  Springdale,  Ohio, 
when  he  ceased  to  act  as  precentor. 

Immediately  below  the  choir,  on  the  gallery  front,  hung  a 
clock  which  John  Mehard  would  wind  up,  and  to  which  some- 
times perhaps  furtive  glances  would  be  cast.  On  one  occasion, 
on  a  fast  day,  Dr.  J.  L.Wilson  was  prfeaching,  when  the  dinner 
bell  of  a  hotel  near  by  began  to  ring,  and  the  minister,  with  a 
quaint  smile  :  "Do  not  let  that  dinner  bell  disturb  you,  re- 
member you  are  to  have  no  dinner  to-day." 

The  session  house  stood  behind  the  church  and  had  three 
stories.  The  first  was  used  for  the  meetings  of  the  session  ;  the 
second  was  for  a  while  occupied  as  a  study  by  a  candidate  for 
the  ministry,  Edward  Patteson,  my  Sabbath-school  teacher 
The  third  story  was  never  occupied. 

One  Sabbath  morning,  when  the  services  were  just  begun, 
the  sexton,  David  Martin,  made  his  appearance  at  the  head  of 
the  gallery  stairs,  and  shouted  :  "The  College  is  on  fire  !"  and 
then  proceeded  to  ring  the  bell  for  the  fire  alarm.  This  an- 
nouncement of  course  produced  great  excitement,  and  broke  up 
the  meeting.  The  College  building  stood  on  Walnut  street 
near  the  church,  and  was  entirely  consumed. 

The  pews  in  the  church  were  of  ordinary  shape,  except 
those  next  to  the  walls,  and  these  were  box  pews.  It  seemed 
strange  to  see  people  sitting  in  them  with  their  backs  toward 
the  preacher.  An  old  colored  woman  used  to  sit  far  back  by 
the  door.  Once  she  created  a  little  sensation  by  shouting  in 
response  to  a  warm  appeal  by  the  pastor,  J.  L.  Wilson,  "Go  on 
brother." 

In  1845,  the  General  Assembly  met  in  the  First  Church. 
The  moderator  was  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Krebs,  of  New  York. 
N.  L.  Rice  was  prominent  in  securing  from  the  Assembly  a 
deliverance  on   Slavery,  which  was  acceptable   to  the   South. 


48  PUEbBYTEKlAX     CENTENNIAL. 

A  delegation  of  Indian  chiefs  visited  the  Assembly,  and  they 
were  introduced  to  the  moderator,  by  means  of  an  interpreter. 
Speeches  were  made  by  the  Indian  chiefs  and  the  moderator. 

Some  of  the  other  distinguished  meitibers  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1845,  were  these  :  J.  H.  Thornwell,  of  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.  ;  J.  T.  Edgar,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.  ;  W.  C.  Hamilton, 
of  Mobile,  Ala.  ;  George  Junkin,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  A.  T.  Mc- 
Gill,  of  Allegheny,  Pa.  ;  John  C.  Lord,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  ; 
H.  R.  Weed,  of  Wheeling, Va.  ;  James  Wood,  of  New  Albany, 
Ind.  ;  W.  S.  Potts,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.  ;  David  Monfort,  of 
Franklin,  Ind.  ;  Robert  Davidson,  of  Kentucky. 

In  1850  the  old  building  was  torn  down  to  make  way  for 
the  present  one.  Many  regrets  were  felt  in  seeing  the  vener- 
able structure  taken  away,  but  it  had  to  disappear  before  the 
march  of  improvement. 

Not  long  before  the  removal  of  the  old  building,  there  was 
a  gracious  revival  in  the  church.  The  pastor,  Rev.  S.  R.  Wil- 
son, called  in  to  his  assistance  Rev.  Phineas  D.  Gurley,  then  of 
Dayton,  Ohio.  A  series  of  meetings  were  held,  which  proved 
to  be  the  reaping  time  of  a  long  period  of  sowing.  Multitudes 
of  the  children  of  families  of  the  church  made  a  public  confes- 
sion of  Christ.  Thus  the  last  days  of  the  old  house  were 
glorified  by  a  pentecostal  effusion  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  family  record  informs  me  that  my  grandfather.  Cap- 
tain Moses  Guest,  with  his  family,  became  members  of  the 
First  Church  in  1817.  My  grandfather  died  in  1828,  and  the 
funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  from  psalnv 
37.37,  "Mark  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the 
end  of  that  man  is  peace." 

My  mother,  Miss  Mary  Ann  Reynolds,  was  long  a  mem- 
ber of  this  church.  She  died  August  4th,  1855.  Funeral  ser- 
mon by  Rev.  S.  R.  Wilson,  from  psalm  116.15,  "Precious  in 
the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  his  saints."  I  became  a 
member  of  this  church  in  1845,  when  a  youth,  and  continued  as 
such  until  my  ordination  by  the  Cincinnati  Presbytery,  May 
20th,  1850.  I.iy  aunt,  Sophia  H.  Guest,  joined  this  church  in 
the  revival  of  1828.     She  died  July  5th,  1888,  and  is  buried  in 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  49 

» 

Spring  Grove  Cemetery.  My  aunt,  Mrs.  Sarah  Guest  White, 
also  became  a  member  of  this  church  in  1828.  She  still  lives 
in  St.  Joseph,  Missouri. 

I  have  two  sisters  living  who  were  for  a  long  time  mem- 
bers here.  Julia  Reynolds  now  lives  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
and  Mrs.  Caroline  R.  Lemmon  in  Newton,  Kansas. 

Rev.  Samuel  R.  Wilson  began  his  ministry  as  co-pastor 
with  his  father,  J.  R.  Wilson,  in  1840.  Samuel  R.  Wilson  was 
then  twenty-two  years  old,  "a  youth  and  ruddy."  Indeed  some 
objected  to  his  becoming  co-pastor  on  account  of  his  youth,  but 
it  was  suggested  to  them  that  he  would  improve  in  that  respect 
every  day.  There  is  something  of  tender  interest  in  the  fact 
that  he  entered  the  ministry  so  young.  By  the  way,  I  have  a 
letter  addressed  to  me  from  him  which  comes  in  appropriately 
here. 

Cincinnati,  February  24th,  1857. 
Rev.  A.  J.  Reynolds. 

Dear  Brother  : —  It  is  not  seldom  that  I  think  of  the 
old  "two-horned  church"  (as  it  used  to  be  called,)  and  how  I 
used  to  go  to  church  at  night  when  darkness  was  made  visible 
by  tallow  candles  hung  up  against  the  pillars  of  the  gallery  in 
tin  sconces.  And  I  recall  the  days  in  which  God's  convincing 
Spirit  was  poured  out  there  ;  and  the  multitude  came  together 
and  much  people  was  added  to  the  Lord.  And  I  remember 
when  I  was  moved,  I  can  hardly  tell  how  to  come  to  the  ''anxious 
seat,"  and  then  admitted  to  the  Holy  Communion  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  ;  and  I  think  how  inadequate  were  my  views,  and  won- 
der whether  indeed  I  was  converted  then.  And  again  I  reflect 
upon  the  strange  steps  by  which  I  was  brought  back  to  preach 
in  that  pulpit  to  which  I  had  from  childhood  been  wont  to  look 
up  with  so  much  of  awe  ;  and  then  the  changes  which  have 
come  since  ;  and  the  way  that  God  has  led  me  looks  strange 
and  inexplicable,  and  I  ask  myself,  is  this  indeed  the  way  by 
which  He  is  leading  me  the  way  to  glory?  And  I  pause  and 
tremble,  and  hope  and  wait.  *>!<**>!<* 

I  wish  to  see  you  an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament. 
You  have  begun  well.  Be  steadfast  to  the  end.  Study  the 
^pastoral  epistles,  and  see  theii  teaching  illustrated  in  the  life  of 
their  author.  I  do  not  undervalue  other  treatises  on  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  and  pu.storal   theology.     From   some  of  them   I 


50  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

have  derived  much  advantage.     But  after  all  I  prefer  the  let- 
ters  of  Paul  to  Timothy  and  Titus  as  the  best  and  infallible 
guide  of  the  Bishop  in  God's  house. 
With  fraternal  affection, 

Yours  truly, 

S.  RAMSAY  WILSON. 

As  a  sequel  to  this  letter  is  an  exti-act  from  another  by 
the  same  writer  addressed  to  ine  : 

ScRANTON,  Pa.,  September  24th,  1883. 
*  *  *  I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  of  your  prosperity,  and 
that  the  blessing  of  the  covenant  which  rested  upon  you  has 
descended  to  your  own  children.  May  God  make  your  dear 
sons  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  and  strong  in  the  truth  in 
Jesus.     *     *     *     *  Yours  truly, 

SAM'L  R.  WILSON. 

When  Samuel  R.Wilson  entered  the  pastorate  of  the  First 
Church,  he  possessed  many  advantages  of  person.  His  mind 
was  bright  and  active,  and  he  had  been  well  trained  in  Hanover 
College  and  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  His  affections 
were  strong.  His  conscience  was  inflexible.  His  judgment 
was  unusually  sound,  and  his  will  was  determined.  He  was 
good  as  a  preacher,  and  became  unexcelled  as  an  ecclasiastic 
and  as  a  debater. 

His  voice  was  flexible  and  musical.  He  early  became  an 
attractive  preacher  to  those  who  loved  gospel  truth.  Young 
people  were  naturally  drawn  to  hear  him.  In  his  younger 
ministry  his  style  was  rather  flowery  and  poetical.  His  serm- 
ons were  well  prepared  and  delivered.  His  delight  was  always 
to  preach  the  gospel,  and  his  appeals  to  the  impenitent  were 
often  very  powerful.  His  face  would  kindle,  his  eyes  would 
be  filled  with  tears,  his  voice  would  tremble  when  he  would 
depict  the  sorrows  of  Christ  in  Gethsemane  and  on  the  cross, 
and  he  wovild  invite  sinners  to  come  to  Him. 

He  was  perhaps  somewhat  cold  in  manner  in  personal  in- 
tercourse, but  his  reserve  would  yield  to  the  genial  influence  of* 
more  intimate  acquaintance. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL,  51 

He  died  in  1886,  and  is  buried  in  Spring  Grove  Cemetery. 
He  will  be  long  remembered  by  many  with  sincere  admiration 
and  affection.  I  take  this  opportunity  of  laying  a  wreath  upon 
his  tomb,  feeling  that  to  him  I  owe  much  for  the  pulpit  instruc- 
tions I  received  from  him  in  my  youth,  which  helped  me  both 
in  the  Christian  life  and  in  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

He  was  a  man  who  was  faithful  and  firm  in  his  views  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  as  taught  in  the  Catechism  and 
Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  remarkably 
clear  in  the  exposition  of  them.  In  the  great  day  of  final  ac- 
count we  can  not  doubt  but  that  he  will  receive  a  brisrht  crown 
from  his  Savior  and  the  commendation,  "Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

And  thus  I  end  this  paper,  thankful  that  I  am  permitted 
to  honor  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  of  Cincinnati,  as  my 
Alma  Mater.  Long  may  she  live  and  far  may  her  influence  be 
extended,  until  He  shall  come  to  reign  who  is  King  of  Kings, 
and  Lord  of  Lords. 


WOMEN  AT  THE  FEET  OF  JESUS. 


By  Mrs.  W.  A.  Clark. 


Friends,  can  you  forget  for  a  few  minutes  that  you  are 
living  in  the  year  1890,  enjoying  the  fruitage  of  nearly  twenty 
centuries  of  history?  Will  you  teansport  yourselves  in  imagina- 
tion back  to  the  beginning  of  the  Roman  Empire,  to  a  world 
lying  in  the  depths  of  heathenism  and  vice,  to  the  small  coun- 
try of  Palestine  where  Christ  walked  and  taught?  It  is  a 
beautiful,  clear  day  on  the  sea  of  Galilee,  two  boats  are  moving 
across  the  quiet  waters, — in  one  is  a  company  of  men,  the  other 
bears  a  mother  and  daughter.  The  mother  sits  and  gazes  at 
her  daughter  with  anxious  countenance,  holding  her  hand 
tightly  that  she  may  not  tear  herself  from  her  watchful  care. 
This  poor  girl  is  possessed  of  devils. 


52  PRESBYTERIAX     CENTEXNIAL. 

Her  mother  has  heard  of  a  wonderful  physician  who  can 
cure  all  diseases,  and  to-day  she  is  taking  their  afflicted  Mary 
from  her  home  in  the  town  of  Magdala  to  this  friend  of  the 
sick. 

Suddenly  the  sky  is  overcast  with  clouds,  the  thunder 
peals  and  the  lightning  flashes  ;  every  moment  the  boats  are  in 
danger  of  being  capsized  ;  Mary  becomes  excited,  the  mother 
tightens  her  grasp,  while  her  daughter  strains  and  foams  at 
the  mouth. 

At  this  moment  Mary's  eye  is  caught  by  the  other  boat, 
for  as  they  are  tossing  to  and  fro  on  the  angry  waves,  the  boats 
are  almost  thrown  upon  each  other,  and  they  see  a  man  of  com- 
manding presence  standing  in  its  bow.  All  eyes  are  fastened 
upon  him  as  he  says  to  the  waves  in  a  quiet  voice  :  "Peace,  be 
still."  More  quickly  than  the  storm  arose  are  the  waves 
calmed,  and  the  spirit  of  the  excited  Mary  seems  to  feel  the 
influence  of  that  peaceful  voice.  By  and  by  they  land  on  the 
opposite  shore,  Mary  is  lifted  from  the  boat  and  carried  to  the 
presence  of  Christ.  The  seven  demons  which  possess  her  seem 
to  be  aroused  to  unwonted  fury,  and  she  suffers  agony,  but  at  a 
word  from  the  healer  her  reason  returns  ;  she  throws  herself  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus  in  a  transport  of  joy  and  love  ;  henceforth  her 
life  is  spent  in  devotion  to  this  dear  friend  who  has  given  her 
back  peace  and  hope. 

She  joins  herself  to  the  company  of  faithful  women  who 
ministered  unto  him  of  their  substance,  Joanna  and  Susanna, 
Mary,  his  mother,  and  the  other  Mary.  How  picture  the  privi- 
lege of  ministering  to  the  Son  of  God  who  gave  himself  for 
that  sin-sick  world  !  With  broken  heart  she  remains  last  at  the 
cross  ;  and  on  the  resurrection  morn  she  staid  by  his  tomb  ; 
her  eyes  were  blinded  by  tears,  she  stoops  and  looks  into  the 
sepulchre,  for  the  stone  has  been  rolled  away  ;  he  whom  she 
loves  is  not  there,  but  she  sees  two  angels  in  white  raiment ; 
they  say  unto  her,  "Why  weepest  thou  ?"  She,  scarcely  able 
to  control  her  voice,  answered,  "Because  they  have  taken  away 
my  Lord  and  I  know  not  where  they  have  laid  him."  As  she 
wipes  her  flowing  tears  she  turns  and  sees  Jesus  standing  at 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  53 

"her  side,  but  cannot  recognize  him,  her  eyes  are  so  full  of  teaxs, 
but  the  moment  he  speaks  she  knows  her  dearest  friend  and 
casts  herself  at  his  feet,  but  Jesus  says  unto  her,  "Touch  me 
not,  lor  I  am  not  yet  ascended  unto  my  father,  but  go  to  my 
brethren  and  say  unto  them  I  ascend  unto  my  father  and  your 
father  and  to  my  God  and  your  God." 

And  so  a  woman  was  the  first  to  carry  to  her  brethren  the 
glad  tidings  of  a  risen  Lord. 

In  a  small  town  at  a  short  distance  from  Jerusalem  is  the 
home  of  Martha,  Mary  and  Lazarus,  friends  of  Jesus.  One 
afternoon,  as  Jesus  journeys  to  Jerusalem  for  the  last  time,  he 
visits  this  house  and.  is  entertained  by  the  two  sisters.  Martha 
bustles  about  arranging  the  supper  and  acting  the  part  of  an 
attentive  hostess  ;  but  Mary  sits  at  Jesus'  feet  and  drinks  in  the 
words  of  wisdom  and  life  which  fall  from  his  lips.  Would  not 
any  of  us  love  to  sit  in  Mary's  place  and  learn  of  him  who 
spake  as  never  man  spake,  whose  meat  and  drink  was  to  do  the 
will  of  the  father? 

Many  times  I  have  read  this  lovely  story,  so  simply  yet  so 
vividly  told,  and  always  it  is  a  matter  of  astonishment  to  me 
that  Martha,  with  such  a  guest,  could  have  been  forgetful  of 
the  spiritual  words  of  Jesus  and  have  spent  every  moment  in 
thinking  of  what  he  must  eat  and  drink.  How  sweet  and 
gentle  Christ's  answer  when  she  complains  to  their  guest  that 
Mary  leaves  her  to  serve  alone.  "Martha,  Martha,  thou  art 
careful  and  troubled  about  many  things,  but  Mary  hath  chosen 
that  good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her."  That 
good  part,  what  an  unspeakable  delight,  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
such  a  guest,  to  learn  such  lessons  ot  love,  of  sweetness,  as  were 
never  uttered  before.  I  can  imagine  Mary  spending  her  whole 
after  life  in  telling  to  others  the  immeasurable  truths  which 
she  learned  from  the  lips  of  Jesus.  I  can  imagine  her  joining 
that  company  of  Christ's  faithful  friends  who  remained  in 
Jerusalem  after  his  death  ;  of  her  sitting  in  the  upper  room  and 
listening  with  the  other  women  to  Peter's  sermon  at  the  elec- 
tion of  the  twelfth  Apostle  ;  of  her  meeting  with  all  the  dis- 
ciples on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  receiving  with  the  others 


54  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  power  to  speak  for  Jesus  in 
any  tongue. 

The  eager  enthusiasm  which  filled  all  the  disciples  at  this 
time  never  left  them.  It  gave  men  and  women  alike  ability  to. 
arouse  by  their  words  and  deeds  multitudes  of  others,  so  that 
in  a  marvelously  short  time  the  number  and  influence  of  Christ's 
disciples  awoke  the  fear  of  the  Roman  officials.  The  Chris- 
tian's were  driven  from  one  part  of  the  world  to  the  other, 
earrying  with  them  the  religion  which  was  destined  to  super- 
cede all  others. 

Among  those  who  were  exiled  from  Rome,  was  a  Roman 
Jewess,  by  the  name  of  Priscilla,  w^ho  is  always  mentioned  as 
working  equally  with  her  husband,  assisting  Paul  and  carrying 
the  word  of  truth  wherever  she  stopped  in  her  travels.  She 
and  her  husband  explained  to  Apollos,  the  eloquent  Alexan- 
drian preacher,  the  truth  concerning  Jesus  and  the  resurrection. 
When  they  found  him  speaking  and  teaching  diligently  the 
things  of  the  Lord  in  the  city  of  Ephesus,  and  afterwards  when 
they  were  permitted  to  return  to  Rome,  her  home  was  a  rally- 
ing place  for  the  Christians.  Paul  says,  that  "Priscilla  and 
Aquila  laid  down  their  own  necks  for  his  life,"  and  calls  them 
both  "his  helpers  in  Christ,"  and  sends  greetings  to  the  "Church 
in  that  house  at  Rome." 

Numbers  of  women  aided  Paul,  among  whom  were  Pris- 
cilla, Lydia,  Phoebe,  Chloe,  Mary,  Persis,  Julia,  and  a  host  of 
others.  He  calls  them  his  true  yoke-fellows,  his  fellow-labor- 
ers, and  says,  "That  their  names  are  in  the  book  of  life." 

During  the  years  of  persecution  under  the  Roman  Em- 
perors, women  present  a  magnificent  spectacle  of  courage 
inspired  by  a  lofty  enthusiastic  faith.  We  read  of  Perpetua 
and  Felicetas,  and  Blandina,who  endured  the  most  excruciating 
tortures,  but  not  a  word  of  denial  of  Christ  was  wrung  from 
them  though  their  bodies  were  a  mass  of  deformity.  "I  am  a 
Christian,"  says  Blandina,  "and  there  is  no  evil  done  among 
us."  Surely  their  names  are  in  the  book  of  life  along  with 
those  of  Paul's  friends. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTEMNIAL.  55 

How  many  glorious  examples  of  noble  womanly  lives  are 
furnished    by    the    Pilgrims    and    Puritans.     What   couragous 
hearts   these  w^omen   must  have   possessed  w^ho  left  home  and> 
native   land  to  plant   the  seeds  of  true  Christianity  in  a   new 
world. 

We,  who  to-night  celebrate  the  Centennial  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cincinnati,  can  relate  from  our  own 
knowledge  instances  of  lives  of  patience,  courage,  lofty  Chris- 
tian faith,  which  are  an  inspiration  to  us  in  our  own  efforts  to 
extend  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  I  have  always  before  me  the 
life  of  a  noble  woman  who  came  with  her  husband  and  six 
small  children  to  found  a  school  in  a  strange  town.  Through 
all  her  trials  and  sacrifices  her  constant  communion  with  her 
Savior  upheld  and  strengthened  her.  She  cared  for  her  family, 
nursing  them,  working  for  them,  loving  them  tenderly,  but  her 
sympathies  went  out  to  the  world  ;  every  poor  person  in  the 
town  knew  and  loved  her.  She  worked  in  her  church  ;  she 
organized  temperance  societies  ;  she  visited  and  nursed  sol- 
diers in  camp  during  the  war  ;  she  sent  her  three  sons  to  fight 
for  their  country,  and  formed  a  mother's  prayer-meetmg  to 
pray  for  the  absent  dear  ones.  She  corresponded  with  the 
noblest  men  and  women  of  our  day.  She  wrote  tracts  for  the 
young  ;  she  spoke  to  young  people  with  the  most  wonderful 
results,  although  possessing  an  extremely  timid  and  shrinking 
nature  ;  and  when  the  Lord  took  her  to  himself  the  whole  town 
mourned.  Poorly  clad  mothers  came  with  their  sweet  child- 
ren and  wept  over  that  sweet  face  still  in  death.  The  room 
where  she  lay  was  a  bower  of  beautiful  flowers  ;  hundreds  of 
friends  bade  her  a  last  farewell  with  sorrov\ring  hearts  ;  but  her 
memory  lives  and  that  dear  mother's  life  remains  with  us,  en- 
nobling us,  lifting  us  from  sordid  ambitions. 

Many  of  you  who  sit  here  to-night  can  bring  memorials  of 
just  as  grand  women  who  sat  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  and  received 
an  inspiration,  a  strength  and  hope  which  raised  them  above 
the  commonplace.  Shall  we  mention  Mrs.  Ludlow  Riske, 
whose  descendants  perhaps  sit  in  this  audience  ?  She  left  a 
home  of  luxury,  traveled  on  horseback  hundreds  of  miles, 
settled  in  an  almost  uninhabited  country,  and  became  a  blessing 


56  PRESBYTERIAN     CEXTENNIAI.. 

to  all  in  this  region.  She  formed  the  first  Bible  society,  she 
and  God  being  the  only  ones  present  at  the  first  meeting.  She 
assisted  in  organizing  a  missionary  society  in  Cincinnati.  She 
took  an  active  part  .n  the  formation  of  the  Cinciunati  Sunday- 
school  Union  ;  she  gathered  together  the  colored  children  and 
a  colored  Sunday-school.  She,  with  a  number  of  benevolent 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  formed  a  Dorcas  society,  the  basis  of  the 
present  Relief  Union.  She  personally  visited  the  jail  and 
ministered  to  the  spiritual  and  temporal  condition  of  the  pris- 
oners. She,  as  chairman  of  a  committee,  addressed  the  mayor 
and  council  of  Cincinnati  on  the  wretchedly  dilapidated  condi- 
tion of  the  city  prison  ;  and  thus  she  spent  her  life,  not  as  a 
trivial  votary  of  fashion,  but  as  a  servant  of  the  Christ  whom 
she  loved. 

Would  that  time  might  permit  us  to  speak  of  Mrs.  Jane 
Kemper,  wife  of  the  first  Presbyterian  pastor  north  of  the  Ohio, 
the  mother  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  north-west  territory  ;  of 
Mrs.  Gary,  with  her  I'esolute  spirit  and  marvelous  powers  of 
endurance  ;  of  gentle,  devout  Mary  Duflield  ;  of  Mrs.  Burnett, 
remarkable  for  her  activity  in  church  work  and  abundant 
charity  towards  the  needy.  But  we  hasten  to  close  with  a 
loving  mention  of  our  own  Mrs.  Pyle,  whom  we  all  knew  and 
loved.  Each  one  of  us  has  felt  the  influence  of  her  enthusiastic 
faith,  her  never  failing  hope,  her  boundless  charity.  We  love 
to  recall  her  words  of  encouragement  to  the  work,  of  sympathy 
for  the  afflicted.  One  could  spend  hours  in  recounting  the 
kind  acts  of  her  busy  life.  Her  brave  heart  has  joined  her 
loved  Lord  ;  she  is  learning  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  the  wisdom  of 
eternity. 

Are  not  these  consecrated  women  all  ministering  spirits 
who  minister  to  us  by  the  lesson  of  their  beautiful  lives  leading 
us  away  from  selfish  notions,  petty  aims  and  low  ideals. 

With  such  examples  before  us,  we  must  choose  that  good 
part  which  can  not  be  taken  away.  Let  us  hasten  to  obey  the 
injunction  of  our  Savior  to  go  into  the  world  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature. 


WOMAN'S  WORK.-PAST  AND  PRESENT. 


By    Miss  Selina  Wood. 


From  time  immemorial  woman's  work  has  been  a  labor 
of  love.  A  Washington  prepared  to  give  freedom  to  a  people 
and  to  do  it  in  the  fear  of  God,  a  minister  of  Christ  turning 
many  to  righteousness,  and  a  missionary  of  the  Cross  denying 
himself  to  father  and  mother,  to  kindred  and  home,  and  hasten- 
ing to  the  heathen  to  hazard  his  life  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  owe 
their  influence  to  the  power  and  love  of  women. 

Not  long  since  a  conference  of  American  pastors  was  held, 
where  one  of  its  objects  was  to  discover  what  or  who  had  been 
the  instrument  of  their  conversion  to  God.  About  one  hundred 
and  twenty  were  present  and  more  than  a  hundred  of  these 
ascribed  their  all  decisive  change  instrumentally  to  their 
mother. 

God  reveals  himself  to  the  little  ones  through  their  mothers. 
From  the  mother's  love  they  first  learn  to  love  Him,  from  the 
mother's  truth  they  first  learn  to  believe  in  Him,  from  their 
mother's  prayers  they  first  learn  to  worship  Him. 

The  holy  women  of  the  New  Testament  have  a  definite 
place  in  the  church  of  Christ,  a  purpose,  a  inission. 

The  Bible  is  full  of  reference  to  woman's  work.  In  our 
Lord's  parables  women  are  prominently  introduced  as  helpers 
in  the  progress  of  religion.  One  sweeps  the  house  most 
thoroughly  in  search  of  a  lost  coin,  and  when  it  is  found,  calls 
in  her  neighbors  to  help  celebrate  her  triun:iph.  Another  puts 
leaven  in  three  measures  of  meal,  and  the  mass  is  changed 
through  her  agency.  Others  take  their  lamps  and  go  forth  to 
meet  the  bridegroom.  In  the  life  of  Christ  incidents  are  re- 
corded bearing  directly  upon  this  subject ;    one  woman  by  her 


:S8  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

-prayer  called  forth  the  testimony,  "O  woman,  great  is  thy 
faith  ;"  another  by  anointing  had  her  work  pronounced  "good" 
by  the  Master,  with  the  promise  that  her  act  should  be  pro- 
claimed through  the  ages  as  her  memorial.  The  woman  of 
Samaria  publicly  proclaimed  the  Savior  and  the  record  is  : 
"many  believed  for  the  saying  of  the  woman." 

The  records  of  the  early  church  bear  witness  to  solid 
work  done  for  her  by  women.  They  became  companions  to 
the  Apostle  and  preacher,  the  stay  and  comfort  of  the  dis- 
tressed. They  treasure  the  dying  words  of  the  martyrs  until 
they  respond  triumphantly  to  the  call  to  martyrdom. 

Much  of  the  work  that  woman  has  accomplished  has  been 
made  under  bans  and  prejudices  and  superstitions,  that  have 
reached  over  the  dark  ages.  And  yet  woman  is  to  figure  most 
prominently  in  giving  the  world  to  Christ. 

The  Christian  church,  embracing  the  interests  of  all  its 
sons  and  daughters,  opens  up  to  woman  a  field  wide  and 
exalted,  sufficient  to  satisfy  her  most  ambitious  desires. 

The  brave  and  noble  souled  Livingstone  on  his  last  de- 
parture from  his  native  shores,  dropped  this  remark  :  "If  I 
were  not  a  missionary  to  Africa  I  would  be  a  missionary  to  the 
poor  of  London."  This  seed  utterance  fell  in  the  heart  of  a 
woman,  and  germinating,  inspired  the  effort  known  as  "Bible 
Woman's  Work"  in  London. 

Through  this  work  done  by  consecrated  women  of  the 
humbler  walks  of  life,  and  who  receive  a  compensation  of  fifty 
cents  for  five  hours  daily  work,  thousands  of  mothers  have  found 
Christ,  homes  have  taken  the  place  of  dens,  husbands  and  fath- 
ers have  been  reclaimed,  and  children  reared  no  longer  in  vice 
but  in  ways  of  holiness. 

In  the  various  societies  organized,  the  church  has  utilized 
power  hitherto  wasted  on  unworthy  objects.  A  broader  and 
higher  culture  is  thus  placed  within  the  reach  of  every  woman. 

The  sewing  societies  have  educated  women  to  work  har- 
moniously together  for  some  one  object.  To  subject  themselves 
to  the  decision  of  the  majority  and  to  become  acquainted  prac- 
tically with  the  rules  that  govern  deliberate  assemblies. 

There  is  discipline  to  be  obtained  working  with  others 


PRESBVTERIAX     CEXTEXXIAL.  59 

that  the  solitary  laborer  misses.  Our  wills  must  bend  some- 
times and  that  while  humilating  is  wholesome. 

The  societies  for  woman's  work  in  these  United  States  owe 
their  success  to  the  persevering  efforts  of  a  few  women  who 
went  from  their  homes  and  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  platform  pre- 
sented the  claims  of  the  cause  they  espoused  to  the  people. 

Christian  women  are  always  earnest,  enthusiastic,  intense, 
whether  of  our  own  day  or  the  pioneer.  The  difference  is  only 
in  the  opportunities  afforded. 

Bible  societies  excited  much  interest  in  the  early  history  of 
our  city  and  chuixh.  Mrs.  Riske,  the  wife  of  a  minister  who 
preached  in  and  around  Cincinnati  until  the  year  of  his  death, 
1818,  writes  of  these  societies  :  "God  makes  use  of  temporal 
means  to  accomplish  his  designs,  these  societies  may  be  the 
means  of  spreading  the  Gospel  more  rapidly.  Even  amongst 
ourselves  many  are  destitute  of  the  Scriptures,  having  but  one 
Bible  for  each  house."  The  same  lady,  in  her  journal  dated 
May  10th,  1815,  says  :  "Having  for  a  length  of  time  a  desire  to 
establish  a  Bible  Society  in  our  neighborhood,  I  requested  the 
attendance  of  a  few  friends  on  an  appointed  day,  and  sent  a 
messenger  for  some  miles  around  to  invite  all  who  felt  so  dis- 
posed to  unite  with  us  in  effecting  this  object.  The  subject 
excited  little  interest,  and  no  one  came.  I  went  to  the  room 
appropriated  at  the  designated  hour  and  seated  myself  at  the 
table.  I  was  filled  with  the  august  presence  of  the  Invisible 
One,  whose  eye  searcheth  all  hearts.  After  reading  a  portion 
of  Scripture  from  the  prophet  Joel,  beginning  at  the  verse, 
"Fear  not,  O  Land  ;  be  glad  and  rejoice,  for  the  Lord  will  do 
great  things."  I  closed  the  book  and  prayed  for  divine  aid  and 
blessing.  Opening  a  blank  book,  I  made  a  minute  of  the  meet- 
ing where  only  the  Lord  and  myself  were  present.  I  sent  word 
to  the  neighbors  that  the  Bible  Society  would  meet  again  that 
day  two  weeks.  When  the  time  arrived,  thirty  women  were 
present  and  the  society  was  organized. 

A  letter  dated  May  7th,  1817,  commences  in  this  way  : 
"The  Female  Auxiliary  Bible  vSociety  of  Cincinnati,  rejoices  to 
hear  that  the  ladies  of  Washington  city  have  formed  themselves 
into  a  society  for  the  relief  of  orphans.     The  several  associa- 


i60  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

tions  are  but  branches  of  the  same  luxuriant  vine.  No  class' 
presents  claims  to  our  sympathies  equal  to  the  orphan  poor. 
Cast  helpless  and  destitute  on  an  unfriendly  world,  their  pas- 
sions are  brought  into  exercise  on  most  unfortunate  principles, 
and  like  obstructed  streams  destroy  the  ground  they  might  have 
enriched  and  adorned." 

This  devoted  Christian  of  the  early  Cincinnati  was  instant 
in  all  good  works  both  in  season  and  out  of  it.  She  taught 
young  men  Sabbath  morning,  worked  hard  for  Bible  and  mis- 
sionary societies.  Sympathized  in  a  practical  manner  with  the 
people  of  her  husband's  parish  in  sickness  or  time  of  extreme 
anguish,  and  if  we  may  judge  from  journals  and  letters,  every 
thought  of  her  mind  was  accompanied  with  a  prayer  from  her 
heart.  The  work  of  this  woman  and  her  unnamed  coadjutors 
is  bearing  fruit  to-day. 

In  some  of  the  church  records  concerning  the  kinds  of 
work  done  previous  to  the  late  civil  war,  as  well  as  from  facts 
obtained  from  the  memories  of  some  who  have  remained  with 
us  long  enough  to  be  called  "elderly,"  we  find  that  the  women 
were  ever  ready  to  go  to  God  in  prayer.  The  prayer  meetings 
they  enjoyed  together  one  afternoon  of  each  week,  are  looked 
back  upon  as  red  letter  days  in  the  lives  of  not  a  few.  Moth- 
ers brought  their  children  and  by  name  they  were  remembered 
at  the  throne  of  grace. 

Women  have  always  been  helpful  in  the  spread  of  the 
gospel,  and  almost  from  a  church  organization  gave  directly  to 
the  board  of  missions.  They  met  together  in  their  sewing 
societies  and  fitted  out  any  accepted  missionary  for  the  field 
whether  his  mission  was  to  the  Indian  or  to  the  Hindoo. 

The  album  quilt  made  by  the  ladies  of  the  Reading  church, 
in  1847,  and  presented  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson,  on  their  going 
to  Syria,  is  here  a  witness  of  such  work.  The  quilt  on  its 
journey  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  Mediterranean  sea.  It  was 
afterwards  rescued,  did  its  duty  in  Syria,  and  was  brought  back 
in  1861. 

At  the  sewing  circles  arrangements  were  made  for  bazaars, 
which  were  held  annually.  The  money  was  devoted  to  some 
genuine  church  work,  principally  the  missionary  cause.     Thus 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  61 

we  find  things  until  the  late  civil  war,  when  man  was  called 
to  the  fields  of  battle. 

During  this  time  of  sore  need  woman  learned  her  power 
working  under  sanitary  and  christian  commissions.  This 
power,  with  the  executive  ability  shown  to  be  hers  in  large 
concerted  movements,  is  never  to  be  laid  aside  but  to  be  de- 
veloped and  appreciated  by  each  succeeding  generation. 

The  women  who  at  this  time  labored  in  the  schools, 
showed  to  the  world  their  ability  in  training  the  young,  so  that 
when  peace  once  more  reigned  supreme,  young  women  were 
trained  as  teachers  at  public  expense,  and  thousands  of  them 
are  now  growing  old  in  the  work  endeavoring  to  develope 
only  that  class  of  citizen  that  is  capable  of  carrying  on  a 
republic. 

Women  served  also  at  that  dreadful  time  as  nurses  in  the 
hospital,  and  such  power  was  developed,  that  to-day  we  find 
this  work  a  profession. 

The  church  of  Christ  was  not  oblivious  to  this  new  de- 
velopment and  seized  upon  it  as  the  reserve  power  of  the 
church.  Cotemporary  with  this  wonderful  change  in  woman's 
work  at  home,  a  still  more  unheard  of  thing  was  done  in  Cal- 
cutta. A  missionary  lady  obtained  access  to  a  zenana,  and  was 
desired  to  teach  the  inmates  the  things  she  knew.  Others 
were  thrown  open  and  now  the  call  came  especially  to  women 
for  the  foreign  field.  The  bringing  of  these  millions  to  Christ, 
has  been  the  accepted  work  of  the  women  of  the  church. 
Women's  Boards  have  been  established  both  for  the  home  and 
foreign  fields.  Lady  missionaries  are  sent  out  both  as  teachers 
and  physicians,  and  as  the  principal  interest  now  is  in  the  peo- 
ple that  the  church  is  striving  for,  the  work  of  disseminating 
knowledge  concerning  them  has  been  a  most  arduous  one.  The 
Boards  now  have  many  publications  and  tracts,  and  as  it  is  the 
duty  and  privilege  of  every  church  to  have  one  auxiliary  so- 
ciety and  several  bands  for  the  young,  there  will  soon  be  no 
excuse  for  anything  but  intelligent  giving. 

Women  are  now  found  indispensable  in  every  branch  of 
good  work  in  the  Sabbath-school,  the  prayer  meeting,  in  the 
planning  a,nd  sustaining    of  homes    for  the  widow    and    the.- 


Q2  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

orphan,  hospitals  for  the  sick  and  abiding  places  for  the  friend- 
less. 

Women,  however,   are   not  usurpers  but  helpers.     There 
are  many  things  that  women  may  not  do,  but  while  man  per- 
forms the  rougher  work  of  hewing  the  stones  and  building  the  .^ 
altars,  let   the  women  stand  like  ancient  priestesses  with  the 
incense  of  prayer  and  praise. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  WOMAN'S  FOREIGN  MIS- 
SIONARY SOCIETY  OF  CINCINNATI 
PRESBYTERY: 


By  Mrs.  E.  L.  Robertson. 


Has  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  Cincin- 
cinnati  Presbytery,  a  right  to  appear  through  its  representative 
in  this  august  Convention,  celebrating  a  Century  of  Christian 
work? 

The  earliest  records  of  the  Presbyterian  Society,  (already 
precious  as  historical  documents,)  bear  date  January,  1876. 
Is  this  the  beginning  of  the  work  tor  foreign  missions  done  by 
the  women  of  the  Presbytery  ? 

Let  the  following  interesting  souvenir  speak  for  itself: 

"December  13th,  1827.  The  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Female  Missionary  Association,  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Cincinnati,  State  of  Ohio,  have  the  pleasure  to  pre- 
sent this,  our  First  Annual  Report." 

One  of  the  first  objects  which  engaged  its  attention,  after 
its  organization,  was  to  increase  its  members  and  funds.  For 
this  purpose  four  collectors  were  chosen.  The  result  of  their 
labors,  though  not  as  flattering  as  could  be  desired,  is  by  no 
means  discouraging.  Forty-five  subscribers  have  been  obtained, 
$20.00  have  been  collected  and  paid  over  to  the  Board  of 
Agency,  of  Cincinnati ;  Secretary's  book,  50c., Treasurers,  87^c.  ; 
Cash  remaining  on  hand,  $2.31,  and  subscriptions  due, . 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAI..  63 

We  sincerely  regret  that  no  more  has  been  accomplished,  but 
we  trust,  that  when  the  object  of  the  society  is  more  exten- 
sively known  and  clearly  understood,  very  many  will  press 
forward  to  engage  with  us,  and  cojdially  enlist  under  the  ban- 
ners of  that  gospel  whose  hei^alds  are  conveying  the  glad  news 
of  salvation  "to  distant  shores." 

If  time  permitted  we  would  read  this  report  entire,  and 
also  the  finely  written  one  for  the  next  year,  bearing  date  of 
December  18,  1828,  showing  contributions  to  the  American 
Board  of  $50.46^,  and  breathing  forth  a  beautiful  spirit  of  piety 
and  consecration  to  mission  work.  The  first  is  signed  Martha 
J.  Chute,  Secretary. 

None  of  earth's  records  will  ever  reveal  the  stories  of  the 
mite  boxes,  the  prayers,  the  longings  to  hasten  the  day  of  the 
Master's  coming,  that  filled  the  hearts  of  the  consecrated 
women  of  the  past.  One  day  the  books  will  be  opened  and 
unto  every  one  will  be  rendered  "according  to  her  deeds." 

Of  organized  societies  for  foreign  work,  we  have  been 
unable  to  find  any  other  trace,  till  the  Union  Missionary  So- 
ciety, of  New  York  city,  sent  out  a  delegate  in  1874,  and 
enlisted  a  goodly  number  of  ladies  of  large  means  in  the  great 
pioneer  movement  of  woman's  work  for  woman,  led  by  that 
remarkable  Christian  worker,  Mrs.  Thomas  C.  Doremus.  Our 
Presbyterian  ladies  have  taken  a  foremost  place  in  this  unde- 
nominational work  for  foreign  missions.  We  find  on  the  roll 
of  regular  and  enthusiastic  workers,  the  names  of  the  late 
and  lamented  Mrs.  S.  J.  Broadwell,  Mrs.  Dr.  Seely,  Mrs. 
Elliott  Pendleton,  Mrs.  Wm.  Howard  Neft',  Mrs.  George  Fox, 
Mrs.  Dr.  Kemper,  and  others. 

At  the  time  of  the  Union  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Pres- 
byterian family,  the  women  of  the  church  were  encouraged  to 
organize  for  work  in  the  foreign  field,  and  on  October  4th, 
1870,  "The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,"  was  organized  in  Philadelphia.  Letters 
and  printed  appeals  were  widely  circulated,  urging  Presbyterian 
women  to  form  societies  of  their  own  denomination  for  foreign 
work.  The  ladies  of  the  Lane  Seminary  Church  and  of  the 
First  Church  of  Walnut  Hills,  were  the  first  in  southern  Ohio 


64  .     PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL, 

to  iesp5nd  to  this  call.  They  united  to  form  a  society,  and  we 
are  amazed  to  find  from  their  records  that  in  1872,  the  year  of 
their  organization,  they  had  a  membership  of  85,  and  con- 
tributed to  the  cause  of  foreign  missions  $566.  That  a  society 
should  thus  spring  into  life  full  grown,  is  phenominal,  but 
finds  explanation  in  the  fact  that  the  professors  and  students 
in  the  school  of  the  prophets  regularly  presented  the  cause 
of  foreign  missions  every  month  in  the  prayer  meetings  of  the 
Lane  Seminary  church.  Letters  from  young  men  who  had 
gone  from  the  vSeminary  to  the  foreign  field,  also  made  the 
cries  of  woe  from  the  far  away  habitations  of  cruelty  seem  very 
near  at  hand  and  terribly  real.  One  of  our  present  workers 
writes  :  "I  am  quite  sure  the  foreign  missionary  spirit  was  not 
wanting  in  the  Lane  Seminary  church,  where  so  many  young 
men,  who  had  consecrated  themselves  to  the  work,  talked  and 
prayed  and  sung  at  every  monthly  concert,  until  we,  who  w^ere 
children  then,  felt  the  enthusiasm  growing  up  in  our  own 
hearts." 

Mrs.  Dr.  E.  D.  Morris,  the  president  of  this  society  for  the 
first  three  years  of  its  existence,  sent  out  many  appeals  to  sister 
churches  of  the  Presbytery  urging  them  to  form  societies. 
Lebanon  organized  in  1873,  and  has  always  held  a  foremost 
place  in  the  ranks  in  recent  years,  the  banner  society  in  attend- 
ance,— meetings  made  so  interesting  that  the  average  attend- 
ance exceeds  the  membership,  which  is  large.  Before  the 
organization  of  the  Presbyterian  society,  there  were  eight 
societies  in  the  different  churches  of  the  Presbytery,  in  direct 
union  with  the  parent  society  in  Philadelphia. 

In  1875,  there  came  into  the  Presbytery  one  of  tha.t  noble 
band  of  women  who  had  organized  the  work  in  Philadelphia, 
Mrs.  Z.  M.  Humphrey.  A  ladies  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Third  Presbyterian  church  in  January,  1876,  addressed  by  the 
eloquent,  talented  missionary  from  Persia,  Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Rhea, 
in  behalf  of  the  claims  of' Christianity  upon  the  women  of  the 
United  States,  and  by  Mrs.  Humphrey,  pleading  for  immediate 
organization,  and  telling  of  the  work  which  the  women  in  the 
eastern  part  of  our  country  were  beginning  to  do  for  their 
sisters  in  heathen  lands.     The  Presbyterian  society  was  organ- 


•    PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  65 

ized  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  First  Presbyterian  t;hurch, 
January  18th,  1876.  The  following  officers  were  elected : 
Mrs.  Z.  M.  Humphrey,  President ;  Mrs.  E.  D.  Leyard,  First 
Vice-President ;  Mrs.  Geo.  Beecher,  Second  Vice-President ; 
Mrs.  E.  M.  Halliday,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Pyle,  Recording  Secretary  ;  Mrs.  Thornton  M.  Hinkle,  Treas- 
urer. 

How  shall  a  stranger  fitly  speak  of  tried  friends,  loved  and 
revered  by  many  of  the  ladies  still  working  in  this  Presbytery? 
The  writer,  in  trying  to  gather  interesting  material  for  this 
sketch,  has  felt  that  an  experience  meeting,  having  for  its  sub- 
ject "Personal  Recollections  of  Past  Workers,"  would  be  far 
more  interesting  than  a  paper.  One  says,  "I  never  heard  any 
one  pray  as  Mrs.  Humphrey  did,"  and  then  relates  the  pathetic- 
comic  story  of  her  acquiring  the  gift  through  much  tribulation. 

Another  friend  tells  of  her  rare  power  of  interesting  others 
in  that  which  filled  her  own  heart.  This  we  readily  believe 
of  the  one  who  has  of  recent  years  given  lessons  in  Bible  his- 
tory to  large  classes  in  several  of  our  great  cities,  (classes 
numbering  from  75  to  100  members,)  and  made  the  lectures  so 
interesting  that  the  members  were  willing  to  study  to  submit 
to  being  questioned^  and  to  pay  the  sum  of  $20.00  each  for  the 
privilege  of  attending  the  course. 

One  speaks  of  Mrs.  Hmnphrey's  personal  interest  in  every 
worker  in  the  Presbytery,  and  of  her  gracious  ministry  in  her 
own  home. 

Around  the  president  was  gathered  a  noble  band  of  women 
having  indeed  ''diversity  of  gifts  but  the  same  spirit." 

Of  the  first  recording  secretary,  the  sainted  Mrs.  Pyle,  we 
can  truly  say,  "she  being  dead,  yet  speaks." 

How  often  do  we  hear  quoted  such  of  her  pithy  sayings, 
as  "information  brings  inspiration  ;"  or  the  fitting  exhortation 
to  missionary  workers,  "Pray  and  pay  and  peg  away." 

One  speaks  of  the  deep  spiritual  life,  the  simple  child-like 
faith  of  Mrs.  Ledyard,  another,  of  her  personal  magnetism  and 
thorough  enthusiastic  work,  sparing  neither  time  nor  pains  to 
make  the  meetings  of  her  Mt.  Auburn  band  interesting,  pro- 


66  PRESBYTERIAN     CEXTEXXIAL. 

grammes  original,  and  anniversaries  a  "perfect  delight."     Her. 
zeal  in  the  good  cause  has  not  at  all  abated. 

Mrs.  Babbitt,  with  her  wise  and  gracious  words  and  ferv- 
ent prayers  ;  Mrs.  Kumler,  with  her  clear  judgment,  direct 
sincerity  and  strong  common  sense  ;  and  Mrs.  Morey,  ever 
prompt,  ready  and  exact  in  her  work,  as  recording  secretary, 
contributed  largely  to  the  success  of  the  Presbyterian  society  in 
the  tirst  years  of  its  existence. 

The  society  has  been  singularly  fortunate  in  its  presidents. 
After  the  removal  of  Mrs.  Humphrey,  in  1882,  Mrs.  Kumler 
took  the  helm,  and  her  strong  convictions  of  duty,  earnest  de- 
votion to  the  cause,  single  eyed  service,  and  her  plain,  clear, 
strong  words  of  appeal,  made  her  services  invaluable.  When 
Mrs.  Kumler  removed  to  Pittsburg,  in  1884,  the  choice  fell  on 
Mrs.  E.  E.  Walter,  of  Pleasant  Ridge,  who  wisely  and  ably 
guided  the  work  till  ill-health  forced  her  to  resign  in  1888,  and 
Mrs.  S.  S.  Gilson,  now  of  Pittsburg,  took  her  place.  The 
following  resolution,  passed  by  the  hearty  and  unanimous  vote 
of  the  society,  at  the  time  of  Mrs.  Gilson's  removal,  speaks  for 
itself:  ''Resolved,  That  Mrs.  Gilson's  extensive  acquaintance 
with  the  workers  of  the  various  churches  of  the  Presbytery,, 
her  familiarity  with  the  best  missionary  literature,  and  her 
resources  in  securing  the  services  of  talented  missionaries 
whenever  they  came  near  our  city,  will  make  her  loss  keenly 
felt  in  our  society." 

Bereaved  by  the  loss  of  Mrs.  Gilson,  the  workers  rejoiced 
that  Mrs.  Walter's  health  permitted  her  to  step  back  into  her 
place  as  president. 

On  the  early  records  appear  the  names  of  some  of  the 
ipost  efficient  workers  of  our  own  day  ;  Mrs.  G.  Y.  Roots, 
Mrs.  Moore,  of  Delhi,  Miss  H.  N.  Wilson,  Mrs.  Sage,  Mrs. 
Ritchie,  and  others  ;  but  the  desire  of  each  worker  seems  to  be 
"Magnify  the  work,  but  do  not  make  special  mention  of  me." 
Believing  discretion  to  be  the  better  part  of  valor,  the  writer 
meditates  on  the  statement  of  the  prince  of  historians  that  it  is- 
dangerous  to  write  the  history  of  one's  own  times,  and  refrains 
from  commenting  on  the  valuable  sei'vices  of  present  workers 
further  than  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Thornton 


PKESBYTERIAX     CENTENNIAL.  67 

Hinkle,  the  first  treasurer,  still  holds  that  important  position 
to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all  the  workers.  It  is  a  comfort  to 
know  that  the  money  will  all  be  collected  and  sent  on  at  the 
proper  time  ;  the  books  kept  with  perfect  neatness  and  ac- 
curacy ;  and  clear,  concise  and  absolutely  correct  reports  pre: 
sented  annually. 

In  1788,  the  various  bands  of  young  ladies  and  children 
existing  in  the  different  churches  of  the  Presbytery,  were  united 
to  form  the  Y.  L.  B.  of  the  Presbyterian  Society.  Miss  Alice 
Hurim  was  president  the  first  year,  Mrs.  Lowe  Emerson  the 
second,  and  since  that  time  Mrs.  G.  H.  DeGolyer  has  presided 
over  this  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Society,  and  devoted  much 
time  and  talent  to  the  work  of  stimulating  and  wisely  guiding 
the  mission  work  of  the  young  people  and  children  of  our 
Presbytery.  The  celebration  of  the  tenth  birthday  of  this 
society  in  the  Second  church,  May,  1888,  will  long  be  remem- 
bered. A  large  room  crowded  with  bright  young  faces,  in- 
tensely interested  in  missions,  presents  a  scene  to  gladden  the 
hearts  of  saints  and  angels.  What  a  host  of  workers  will  there 
be  in  the  next  generation.  Besides  her  work  with  the  young 
people,  Mrs.  DeGolyer  served  for  years  with  Mrs.  L.  A.  Denton 
and  others  on  the  Editorial  Committee.  Of  the  work  of  Mrs. 
Denton,  the  minutes  bear  record  as  follows  : 

"As  chairman  of  the  Editorial  Committee,  year  after  year, 
she  shunned  no  outlay  of  time,  money  and  thought,  to  make 
the  "Woman's  Work"  column  of  the  Herald  and  Presbyter  one 
of  the  best  of  the  kind  in  the  West.  As  president  for  ten 
years  of  the  Sabbath-day  Auxiliary,  the  good  she  did  can  be 
told  only  in  eternity. 

The  Sabbath-day  Auxiliary  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
local  societies  of  the  Presbytery.  It  is  composed  largely  of 
ladies  during  the  week  in  some  self-supporting  pursuit.  Miss 
Walter,  of  Woodward  High  School,  has  been  secretary  from 
the  time  of  its  organization  in  1878,  and  Miss  Sherwood,  of  the 
Public  Library,  president  since  the  resignation  of  Mrs.  Denton 
in  1888.     Their  interest  never  flags. 

Great  events  in  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Society 
have  been  the  entertaining  of  the  parent  society,  from  Phila- 


68  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

delphia,  in  1880,  and  the  privilege  of  seeing  face  to  face,  and 
listening  to  the  words  of  such  consecrated  and  able  missionaries 
as  Dr.  Ashmore,  Dr.  Albert  Bushnell,  of  the  Gaboon  mission. 
Dr.  Dunlap,  and  our  own  missionaries,  (as  we  fondly  call  those 
supported  by  the  Presbyterian  society,)  Mrs.  Mateer  and  Mrs. 
Potter.  We  have  not  seen  Miss  Christine  Beltz,  of  Etawah, 
India,  but  know  her  through  her  letters.  She  has  been  ours 
since  the  organization  of  the  society  in  1876.  and  only  eternity 
can  recall  the  fruit  which  these  long  years  of  faithful  and  un- 
tiring seed-sowing  will  bring  to  the  Master.  We  are  every 
year  amazed  at  the  amount  of  systematic  work  which  she  ac- 
complishes, and  of  which  she  makes  a  brief,  business-like 
statement  in  her  annual  reports. 

Perhaps  the  following  extract  from  the  early  records  will 
prove  interesting  : 

"At  this  stage  of  the  meeting,  three  stalwart  gentlemen, 
Dr.  Kumler,  Dr.  Ledyard  and  Mr.  Roberts,  came  marching  to 
the  front  reporting  themselves  as  a  committee  sent  by  the  re- 
nowned Cincinnati  Presbytery  to  bear  the  cordial  greetings  of 
that  body  to  the  sisters  in  counsel." 

The  president  asked  how  the  courtesies  of  the  brethren 
should  be  reciprocated,  and  Mrs.  Kumler,  with  ready  wit  and 
keen  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things,  moved,  that  the  gentlemen 
be  instructed  to  "go  back  and  tell  what  they  had  seen." 

Have  we  through  this  paper  obtained  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
the  work  and  the  workers  in  the  foreign  missionary  cause  in 
Cincinnati  Presbytery  ?  The  vitality  of  the  cause  is  seen  in  the 
fact,  that  though  the  worker  is  lost  to  view  the  work  goes  on. 
Thus  will  it  be  as  long  as  it  can  be  said  of  the  ladies"  societies, 
"The  Lord  has  need  of  them." 

Active  service  in  mission  work  brings  rich  rewards  to  the 
workers  in  the  "life  that  now  is."  They  may  sometimes  be 
overburdened,  but  they  are  stimulated  intellectually,  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  grandest  movements  of  the  age  ;  per- 
mitted to  meet  and  know  the  choicest  minds  and  spirits  in  the 
various  churches,  and  above  all,  brought  into  closer  communion 
with  the  One  whose  mission  from  heaven  was  ''to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost." 


HISTORY  OF  WOMAN'S    HOME  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY  OF  CINCINNATI  PRESBYTERY. 


By  Mrs.  M.  E.  Trout. 


The  thought  conceived  in  the  minds  of  the  committee  on 
programme,  for  the  service  of  this  evening  was  certainly  a 
happy  one  ;  first,  to  take  us  to  the  "feet  of  Jesus,"  for  only 
there  did  the  woman's  work  in  the  past  and  now,  receive  its 
inspiration  ;  then  to  review  what  the  women  of  Cincinnati 
Presbytery  have  done  for  the  Master  in  foreign  lands  and  in 
our  own  blessed  home  land. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  a  little  previous  to  the 
organization  of  Cincinnati  Presbytery. 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions,  recognizing  the  fact  that 
they  were  chartered  only  to  supply  destitute  places  with  min- 
isters and  not  with  teachers,  deemed  it  unadvisable  to  deviate 
from  the  policy  of  former  years.  They  therefore  called  upon 
the  women  of  the  church  to  take  up  the  school  work  and  act 
as  pioneers  to  our  regular  home  missionaries,  and  from  this 
resulted  the  organization  of  the  Woman's  Executive  Committee 
with  headquarters  in  New  York  city. 

A  few  words  as  to  its  ecclesiastical  relations. 

At  the  request  of  the  ladies,  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
formulated  the  principles  and  rules  by  which  this  society  was 
to  be  guided.  They  were  placed  under  the  control  of  Presby- 
teries and  Synods,  even  their  very  existence  was  made  to 
depend  upon  ecclesiastical  appointments.  This  organization 
was  completed  in  1878. 

From  notes  on  Home  Mission  Work,  as  kept  by  Mrs.  M. 
J.  Pyle,  we  find  that  in  January  of  1879,  in  compliance  with 
the  wishes  of  Synod,  a  meeting  was  held  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  expediency  of  forming  a  Presbyterian  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.     Mrs.  Humphrey,  then  president  of  the  Pres- 


70  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

byterian  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  was  appointed  chairman, 
and  made  a  statement,  giving  some  of  the  reasons  for  the 
proposed  organization.  A  second  meeting  was  called  by  the 
Synodical  Committee  in  February,  and  here  this  organization 
was  completed,  and  Mrs.  M.J.  Pyle  elected  President ;  Mrs.  S. 
W.  Fisher,  1st  Vice-President ;  Mrs.  G.  Y.  Roots,  2nd  Vice- 
President  ;  Mrs.  Storer  How,  Recording  Secretary  ;  Mrs.  S.  E. 
Evans,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Mrs.  R.  H.  Folsom,  Treas- 
urer. Mrs.  Pyle  was  at  this  time  secretary  of  the  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  but  feeling  that  the  time  had  come  for 
more  active  work  for  Home  Missions,  and  the  matter  of  duty 
always  being  foremost  in  her  mind,  she  retired  from  office  in 
the  former  and  entered  into  the  work  of  the  latter,  and  through 
its  infancy,  its  riper  years,  and  still  in  its  more  advanced  years, 
carried  the  work  upon  her  heart,  yea,  gave  her  life  a  willing 
sacrifice  to  the  cause,  falling  at  her  post  October  13th,  1887, 
while  pleading  with  the  women  of  Ohio  for  greater  diligence 
in  the  Master's  service,  and  urging  the  "unemployed  talent"  in 
the  church  to  come  forward  to  the  rescue  of  their  own  coun- 
trywomen. She,  with  many  others,  had  for  some  time  been 
much  impressed  with  the  needs  of  our  country,  and  especially 
our  duty  as  Christian  women,  to  provide  a  Christian  education 
for  the  neglected  in  our  own  land,  therefore  she  entered  most 
heartily  into  this  new  work,  never  however  losing  sight  of,  or 
interest  in  the  other  and  older  branch  of  the  work.  For  a 
period  of  eight  years  of  actual  and  active  service  which  in- 
volved an  attendance  upon  forty-eight  Executive  Committees 
and  thirty-two  quarterly  meetings,  never  once  did  she  fail  us. 
She  belonged  to  the  "emergency  women,"  and  carried  with  her 
that  motto  "Whatsoever  thy  hands  find  to  do,  do  it  with  thy 
might,"  and  even  stronger  still,  do  it  "heartily  as  unto  the 
Lord." 

After  the  society  was  organized,  she  sent  notices  of  the 
same  to  every  church  in  the  Presbytery,  accompanied  by  the 
following  questions  :  First,  are  there  five  or  more  ladies  in 
your  church  and  vicinity  sufficiently  interested  in  the  new 
movement  to  co-operate  in  some  practical  way?  Second,  can 
you  raise  any  sum  of  money  from  two  to  ten  or  more  dollars. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  71 

by  April  first,  to  help  pay  the  salary  of  a  female  teacher  to 
Utah?  Third,  will  you  send  a  delegate,  if  a  meeting  is  ap- 
pointed for  the  morning  of  the  18th?  Her  heart  was  cheered 
by  responses  from  fourteen  of  the  churches,  expressing  sym- 
pathy. The  meeting  was  called  in  the  Presbyterian  rooms  in 
Johnston  building,  at  eleven  o'clock  A.  M.  The  names  of 
Fisher,  Roots,  Morris,  Rossi  ter,  Finch,  Lowry,  Wilson,  Oliver, 
Brown,  Walker,  Folsom,  Patridge,  Taylor,  McLaren,  Lenoard 
and  How,  were  heard  at  the  first  roll  call.  What  a  glory  to 
have  been  in  that  newly  organized  army,  and  with  such  a 
leader. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  April,  1879,  a  few  questions  were 
settled  and  it  was  decided  to  hold  four  quarterly  meetings  each 
year ;  also,  monthly  Executive  meetings,  save  the  months  of 
July  and  August,  which  would  give  ten  working  months.  The 
Executive  Committee  meetings  were  composed  of  the  officers 
of  the  local  societies  and  bands,  or  any  others  delegated  by 
them.  The  quarterly  meetings  are  public  to  every  woman  in 
the  church. 

At  the  first  general  meeting,  which  was  held  in  the  First 
church  October  7th,  1879,  Mrs.  Folsom,  the  treasurer,  presented 
a  paper  on  Home  Missionary  Work  for  children,  which  called 
forth  some  discussion,  and  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
bands  and  Sunday-schools. 

They  were  very  modest  in  the  start,  for  by  the  minutes 
they^only  hoped  to  raise  $300.00.  They  also  decided  to  take 
Miss  Leach,  a  young  lady  from  New  York  city,  as  their  first 
teacher,  and  she  to  be  stationed  at  Jemez,  New  Mexico.  Her 
faith  and  good  works  were  rewarded,  for  there  she  met  Dr. 
Shields,  and  became  his  wife  during  the  year,  still  remaining 
in  charge  of  the  school.  Time  passes  on  and  they  gather  in 
the  lecture  room  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  to  cele- 
brate their  first  anniversary  which  was  March  2nd,  1880.  They 
were  surprised  and  delighted  to  see  the  faces  of  so  many,  and 
to  hear  from  the  treasurer,  Mrs.  R.  H.  Folsom,  that  the  small 
amount  of  three  hundred  dollars  had  been  increased  to  $1,050.50. 
This  sum  was  appropriated  to  the  salaries  of  Mrs.  Shields  at 
Jemez,  New  Mexico,  and  Mrs.  Parks  at  Logan,  Utah,  and  the 


72 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 


remainder  divided  between  a  lady  missionary  to  the  Indians 
and  the  newly  organized  mission  to  Alaska.  The  report  of  the 
boxwork  was  also  very  encouraging,  it  being  $2,095.73.  The 
election  of  officers  for  the  next  year  resulted  in  the  old  Board 
being  retained.  The  second  Annual  was  held  in  the  First 
church,  March,  1881.  The  secretary  reports  twenty-three 
churches  as  contributing  to  Home  Missions,  either  through  in- 
dividuals or  auxiliaries  ;  also,  sixteen  auxiliaries,  nine  young 
ladies  and  children's  bands  and  seven  Sabbath-schools  now  in 
line.  Including  the  "Garfield  Memorial  Fund"  their  gifts  this 
year  amounted  to  $1,500.00.  Miss  Crowell,  a  teacher  at  Gunison, 
Utah,  Mrs.  Shirley,  at  Logan,  Utah,  and  Miss  Burke,  at  Toquer- 
ville,  Utah,  all  received  their  commissions  this  year,  and  Cin- 
cinnati Presbytery  assumed  their  support.  We  also  find  as 
helpers  at  this  meeting  the  names  of  a  few  of  the  ministers, 
Professors  Morris  and  Evans  of  Lane  Seminary,  Drs.  Kumler, 
Lenoard,  Monfort,  Fullerton,  Rusk,  Bissell,  Aldrich  and  Eells, 
and  just  here  allow  me  to  say,  that  the  presence  of  the  ministers 
is  always  encouraging.  All  the  old  officers  again  returned 
except  the  Recording  secretary,  which  was  changed  from  Mrs. 
How  to  Miss  Lupton,  of  Second  church. 

Third  Annual,  March  7th,  1882,  held  in  First  church,  with 
a  representation  from  nearly  all  the  churches  in  the  Presbytery. 
The  treasurer's  report  showed  increased  interest  in  the  auxili- 
aries, and  a  gain  of  fifty  per  cent,  over  the  previous  year. 
Beautiful  reports  weie  heard  from  several  children's  b^nds. 
From  Delhi  came  a  spirited  appeal,  a  call,  not  for  arms  and 
soldiers,  but  workers  for  Christ.  There  seemed  to  be  a  great 
awakening  ;  a  really  "quickened  life"  was  felt.  Officers  for 
another  year  were  elected  ;  appreciation  for  the  old  ones  gave 
them  all  to  us  again,  except  the  secretary.  Miss  Lupton,  who 
felt  compelled  to  resign,  and  Miss  Lowry  wus  chosen  in  her 
place.  Letters  were  received  from  the  various  teachers  during 
the  year,  all  breathing  words  of  encouragement  as  to  their  re- 
spective fields  of  labor.  After  a  short  term  of  service.  Miss 
Lowry  felt  compelled  to  resign  her  office  as  Recording  secre- 
tary, and  Mrs.  M.  E.  Trout  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  meetings  at  the  close  of  this  year. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  73 

when  Miss  May  Belle  Brown  kept  the  records,  has  filled  the 
place  ever  since. 

The  fourth  Annual,  held  in  March,  1883,  reported  twenty- 
auxiliaries  and  seventeen  bands,  with  an  increase  of  contribu- 
tions. Combined  with  this  meeting  was  a  convention  under 
the  auspices  of  our  Board  in  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of 
awakening  a  still  greater  interest  in  the  work  of  evangeliza- 
tion. A  meeting  of  conference  and  prayer,  conducted  by  Mrs. 
McMullen,  of  Glendale,  was  held  in  the  morning  and  was 
characterized  by  great  earnestness  and  fervency.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  the  treasurer,  her  report  was  presented  by  her  husband 
Mr.  R.  H.  Fplsom,  and  it  exhibited  a  most  encouraging  advance, 
the  total  receipts  being  $1,832.82,  a  gain  of  $300.00  over  the 
year  previous. 

The  fifth  year,  1884,  we  find  twepty-six  auxiliaries,  and 
$978  in  the  treasury.  These  reports  answered  the  question  that 
had  been  raised,  whether  women  have  a  special  work  to  do  for 
and  in  Home  Missions. 

The  sixth  Annual,  March  6th,  1885,  was  a  large  and  en- 
thusiastic meeting.  The  treasurer  reported  about  $2,000.00 
raised  during  the  year.  Corresponding  secretary  for  boxwork 
reported  between  $1,000  and  $1,500,  as  the  amount  reached  in., 
that  direction.  The  same  officers  re-elected  with  an  additional 
score  of  vice-presidents. 

At  the  seventh  Annual,  March,  1886,  our  beloved  presi- 
dent, Mrs.  Pyle,  read  an  appropriate  Scripture  lesson  for  this 
seventh  anniversary,  which  completed  a  perfect  cycle ;  her 
words  were  from  Nehemiah,  8th  chapter,  on  the  "reading  of 
the  law"  and  the  "feast  of  Tabernacles",  emphasizing  the 
thought  that  portions  were  to  be  sent  unto  them  for  whom 
nothing  is  prepared.  This  year  one  more  auxiliary,  four  bands 
and  several  Sabbath-schools  were  reported,  making  twenty- 
seven  societies,  marked  with  increasing  zeal  and  interest,  also 
an  increase  of  over  $600.00  in  the  treasury. 

Mrs.    G.  P.  Hays   this   year   directed  our  thoughts  above 

these  temporal  things,  to  that  spiritual  building,  the  eternal  in 

the  heavens.     She  gave  us  first  the  Tabernacle  of  God-given 

attern,  built  by  Moses,  and  the  help  given,  by  wise-hearted 


74 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 


women.  Second,  the  temple  built  by  Solomon,  David's  wise 
son,  still  later  on  in  time  when  there  was  something  for  all  to 
do,  and  in  which  there  was  a  place  for  the  great  stones,  the 
costly  and  hewed  stones.  Third,  the  time  when  "David's 
greater  son,"  the  Prince  of  Peace  has  come,  and  the  spiritual 
temple  which  is  being  built  in  His  name,  and  to  his  God  and 
to  our  God.  The  foundation  stones  of  this  temple  have  been 
laid  by  the  whole  company  of  Prophets  and  Apostles  ;  and 
thousands  upon  thousands  have  worked  and  are  working  upon 
it,  which,  when  built,  will  be  the  wonder  of  all  worlds. 

At  the  eighth  Anniversary,  March,  1887,  we  find  still 
greater  progress  in  the  number  of  societies  and  bands.  This 
year  there  are  sixty-one  in  all.  Amount  of  money  reported  by 
treasurer,  $2,959.40.  This  year  our  attention  was  called  more 
particularly  to  the  Freedmen's  work  in  a  soul  stirring  appeal 
by  Mrs.  Kumler.  All  the  workers  received  new  enthusiasm  on 
this  subject,  and  as  a  result  a  special  secretary  was  elected  and 
placed  in  charge  of  the  Freedmen's  work. 

But  amid  all  the  encouragements  come  some  trials,  for  our 
Heavenly  Father  lays  his  afflicting  hand  upon  our  faithful 
treasurer,  who  in  all  these  years  had  been  ever  ready  to  assist 
the  president  in  any  and  every  way  she  could  ;  even  when  pre- 
vented from  being  with  us  in  the  meetings,  was  she  ever  mind- 
ful of  us,  and  constantly  devising  w^ays  and  ineans  for  the  still 
greater  advancement  of  the  work,  both  temporally  and  spirit- 
ually. Finally  it  became  necessary  (on  account  of  prolonged 
ill  health,)  for  her  to  resign  and  step  aside  from  actual  service, 
therefore  Mrs.  H.  F.  West,  after  much  persuasion,  was  induced 
to  accept  the  office,  which  she  most  faithfully  and  earnestly 
filled  for  three  years.  Providence  had  a  still  greater  blow  to 
inflict  upon  us  this  year,  for  before  another  Annual,  she,  whom 
we  all  so  loved  (our  dear  president,)  had  joined  that  "countless 
throng  whom  no  man  can  number."  The  society  felt  these  two 
removals  keenly  enough,  and  it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  go 
on,  but  realizing  that  the  work  was  not  ours,  but  the  Lord's, 
and  that  He  would  not  suffer  it  to  fall  or  stop,  we  were  encour- 
aged to  go  on  the  remainder  of  the  year  under  the  leadership  of 
our  senior  vice-president,  Mrs.  S.  W.  Fisher,  who  wisely  and 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  75 

liobly  led  us  up  to  our  ninth  Annual,  March,  1888,  when,  for 
various  reasons,  she  retired  and  gave  place  to  another  vice- 
president,  Mrs.  G.  P.  Hays,  who  tremblingly  assumed  the 
leadership,  and  we  start  out  again  ;  each  quarterly  and  Execu- 
tive committee  meeting  note  progress,  but  God  had  work  for 
her  elsewhere,  and  she  passed  over  the  leadership  to  another 
vice-president,  Mrs.  Hugh  Gibson,  who  led  us  up  to  the  tenth 
Annual,  March,  1889.  She  felt  the  enormity  of  the  responsi- 
bility and  feared  to  take  control,  but  after  much  earnest  prayer 
realized  that  God  had  laid  the  work  upon  her,  and  after  the 
nominating  committee  returned  her  to  us,  she  consented,  and 
by  the  blessing  of  God  led  us  on  to  still  greater  achievements. 
She  entreated  us  to  give  gifts  and  to  bring  them  willingly,  and 
not  to  turn  the  famishing  multitude  away  for  want  of  bread. 
The  auxiliaries  have  increased  to  the  number  of  thirty-four, 
and  bands  to  twenty-one.  The  Sabbath-schools  have  not  been 
regularly  organized  as  rapidly  as  they  should,  but  they  are 
slowly  falling  into  line.  The  bands  spoken  of  are  some  of 
them  composed  of  boys  and  girls,  but  the  larger  number  of 
girls  only.  At  the  eleventh  Annual  meeting,  held  March, 
1890,  the  officers  elected  were  as  follows  :  Mrs.  W.  D.  Rossit- 
ter,  president ;  Mrs.  E.  D.  Morris,  corresponding  secretary  of 
boxwork  ;  Miss  Lowry,  corresponding  secretary  for  teacher's 
club  ;  Mrs.  R.  K.  Brown,  corresponding  secretary  for  Freed- 
men  ;  Mrs.  Trout,  recording  secretary  ;  Mrs.  H.  P.  Taylor, 
treasurer  ;  and  vice-presidents  to  the  number  of  thirty-four. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note,  that  all  the  above  might  be 
truly  called  charter  members,  save  one.  During  this  first  de- 
cade over  thirty-five  thousand  dollars  have  been  contributed  in 
this  Presbytery.  Soon  after  Mrs.  Pyle's  death,  it  was  thought 
proper  to  establish  a  "Memorial"  to  the  departed,  not  that  any 
such  thing  was  necessary  to  perpetuate  her  memory,  but  that 
we  might  more  largely  carry  on  her  work.  This  was  to  be 
called  the  Pyle  Memorial  Fund.  After  correspondence  with 
the  Executive  committee  in  New  York,  they  recommended  the 
erection  of  a  chapel  school  building,  to  be  placed  at  Isleta, 
New  Mexico,  but  upon  investigating  the  matter  farther,  found 
this  not  a  suitable  place,  and  since  the  last  General  Assembly 


76  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

have  changed  the  place  to  Taos,  New  Mexico.  The  money- 
has  all  been  raised  and  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  com- 
mittee in  New  York. 

Our  pledges  for  1890-1891  are  Miss  E.  B.  Hersman,  Mt. 
Pleasant,  Utah  ;  Miss  Mitchell,  Logan,  Utah  ;  Miss  Kate  Scott, 
Isleta,  New  Mexico  ;  and  Mrs.  D.  J.  Satterfield,  Scotia  Sem- 
inary, Concord,  North  Carolina. 

At  the  June  quarterly  meeting  it  was  proposed  and  de- 
cided to  aid  in  raising  the  $6,000.00  to  add  a  wing  to  Scotia 
Seminary  building,  in  order  that  they  may  accommodate  the 
many  applying  to  them  for  admission.  A  special  committee 
was  appointed  in  charge  of  this  matter,  consisting  of  Mrs.  Sid- 
ney D.  Maxwell,  Miss  Mary  E.  Wampler,  Mrs.  H.  P.  Taylor, 
with  Rev.  J.  J.  Francis,  D.  D.,  as  financial  secretary.  They  re- 
port great  encouragement  and  interest  in  this  new  work. 

The  financial  results  of  last  year's  work  to  March,  1890, 
are  as  follows  :  For  Home  missions,  $2,652.57  ;  for  Freedmen, 
$623.09  ;  for  the  M.  J.  Pyle  Memorial  Fund,  $487.52  ;  total, 
$3,763.18.  Disbursements  for  Home  missions  :  Teacher's  sala- 
ries and  general  fund,  $2,059.57  ;  for  scholarships  and  special 
work,  $593.00  ;  for  Freedmen,  $623.00.  On  hand  of  the  Mem- 
orial Fund,  $487.52  ;  sent  direct  to  the  treasurer  in  New  -York 
by  societies  and  Sabbath-schools,  $312.22  ;  value  of  boxes  to 
home  missionaries,  $2,475.64 ;  making  a  total  last  year  of 
$6,551.04. 

This  year  two  of  our  officers  have  been  called  to  their  ac- 
count. Death  has  entered  the  ranks  of  the  honored  vice-presi- 
dents, and  taken  one  whose  interest  has  been  steadily  growing 
for  years.  Mrs.  Lucy  W.  Neflf  has  joined  the  host  above,  also 
Mrs.  McMicken,  president  of  Westwood  auxiliary,  and  both 
these  loved  ones,  we  would  say,  as  was  said  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
S.  Dodge, 

"Not  changed,  but  glorified!    Oh  beauteous  language 
For  those  who  weep, 
Mourning  the  loss  of  some  dear  face  departed, 
Fallen  asleep. 

Hushed  into  silence,  never  more  to  comfort 

The  hearts  of  men. 
Gone  like  the  sunshine  of  another  country, 

Beyond  our  ken. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  77 

Oh,  dearest  dead,  we  saw  thy  white  soul  shining 

Behind  the  face, 
Bright  with  the  beauty  and  celestial  glory. 

Of  an  immortal  grace. 

Think  of  us  dearest  ones,  while  o'er  life's  waters 

We  seek  the  land, 
Missing  thy  voice,  thy  touch,  and  the  true  helping 

Of  thy  pure  hand, 

Till,  through  the  storm  and  tempest,  safely  anchored 

Just  on  the  other  side, 
We  find  thy  dear  face  looking  through  death's  shadows, 

Not  changed,  but  glorified." 

Never  in  the  world's  history  has  woman  wielded  so  great 
an  influence  as  now,  nor  are  the  daughters  of  any  country  more 
respected,  better  educated,  or  control  more  personal  property 
than  the  women  of  the  United  States,  and  in  view  of  this  have 
w^e  done,  or  are  we  doing  all  ive  can  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world,  the  cause  for  which  our  Savior  gave  His  life. 

This  Women's  Mission  Work  and  these  Women's  Mission 
Boards  have  "come  to  stay  ;"  "they  are  established,"  and  while 
the  Cincinnati  Presbytery  has  done  well,  there  is  much  more 
she  can  do. 

This  is  a  crisis,  says  Dr.  Strong,  then  this  is  time  for  emer- 
gency women  to  act.  A  quarter  of  a  century  ago  our  women 
were  eager  to  help  save  home  for  the  United  States  ;  but  there 
is  far  greater  need  now,  for  her  doing  what  she  can  to  save  the 
United  States  for  Christ.  Oh !  for  a  profounder  insight  into 
the  dignity  and  glory  there  is  in  the  service  of  God  through 
service  to  I.nmanity.  To-day  o?ily  is  our  to-day,  and  over  it 
shines  the  radiant  sun  of  righteousness.  If  it  shines  on  us,  we 
are  warmed  and  enlivened,  and  if  it  shines  through  us,  the 
Christ  himself  is  revealed.  May  the  history  which  shall  be 
written  of  woman's  work,  past  and  present,  and  of  the  Foreign 
and  Home  Missionary  work,  in  this  grand  old  Presbytery, 
prove  that  the  women  who  follow  in  our  places,  have  sat  still 
closer  at  the  "feet  of  Jesus"  and  drank  still  deeper  from  the 
wells  of  "living  water,"  and  may  they  realize  that  the  "Ever- 
lasting Arm"  has  been  about  them  to  lead  and  to  guide. 


THE  MISTRESS  OF  THE  MANSE. 


By  Miss.  E.  M.  Gilchrist. 


"The  river  of  their  life  was  one, 
The  shores  down  which  they  passed  were  two." 

"So  throw  your  heart's  door  open  wide, 

And  take  in  mine  as  well  as  me; 
Let  no  poor  creature  be  denied 

The  grace  of  tender  courtesy 
And  kindness  from  the  pastor's  bride." 

Now  when  we  are  striving  to  do  all  honor  to  the  brave 
men  of  the  past  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our  Presbyterian 
wall,  and  giving  all  credit  to  the  workmen  of  later  date  who 
have  extended  its  bounds,  we  must  not  forget  the  faithful 
dwellers  at  home  who  strengthened  their  hands,  encouraged 
their  hearts,  and  without  whom  the  work  would  have  been  but 
imperfectly  done. 

"She  matches  meekness  with  his  might. 
And  patience  with  his  power  to  act. 
His  judgment  with  her  quicker  sight; 
*  And  wins  with  subtlety  and  tact 

■^  The  battles  he  can  only  fight." 

Justice  to  the  best  qualities  of  the  numbers  of  faithful 
shepherdesses,  who  have  spent  and  are  spending  their  time  and 
strength  in  thus  supplementing  the  shepherd's  work,  demands 
that  we  divide  them  into  two  classes  or  indicate  them  by  two 
types.  First,  the  modest,  retiring  woman,  who  finds  her  high- 
est work  in  the  quiet  of  her  own  home, — "The  public  eye  was 
like  a  knife  that  pierced  and  plagued  her  shrinking  heart," — 
having  all  things  in  readiness  for  the  comfort  of  her  husband  ; 
visiting  the  sick,  comforting  the  afflicted. 


PRESBYTKRIAN    CENTENNIAL.  79 

"And  many  a  sad  and  stricken  maid, 

And  many  a  lorn  and  widowed  life, 
That  came  for  counsel  or  for  aid 

To  Philip,  met  the  pastor's  wife, 
And  on  her  heart  the  burden  laid." 

None  can  measure  the  height  ^nd  depth  of  her  influence  ; 
none  dare  say  she  has  missed  the  best  of  life.  "The  heart  of 
her  husband  doth  safely  trust  her,  her  children  rise  up  and  call 
her  blessed  ;  she  stretcheth  out  her  hands  to  the  poor  ;  yea, 
she  reacheth  forth  her  hands  to  the  needy."  Of  the  second 
type  we  find  those  daughters  of  the  prophets  whom  cir- 
cumstances have  trained  for  public  work,  and  whose  execu- 
tive ability  fits  them  for  the  management  of  such  of  the  church's 
affairs  as  naturally  come  under  woman's  hand.  Thus  their 
names  become  more  familiar  to  the  Christian  public  than  many 
who  are  none  the  less  effectively  doing  the  Master's  work. 

Time  will  not  permit  us  to  give  numerous  illustrations  of 
these  types,  but  we  have  fortunately  been  able  to  find  excellent 
examples  within  in  two  of  our  very  earliest  manses. 

Concerning  the  first  I  shall  quote  almost  without  altera- 
tion from  an  authority  on  the  subject. 

•'Judith  Hathaway  Kemper,  wife  of  the  first  Presbyterian 
pastor  in  Cincinnati,  was  born  and  reared  of  English  parent- 
age, in  Virginia,  where  she  received  the  best  education  of  her 
time.  She  was  a  woman  of  fragile  physique  but  of  enduring 
fibre  ;  she  was  a  faithful,  efficient  and  heroic  worker,  possessed 
of  an  unusufiUy  sound  judgment,  modest,  amiable,  an  attractive, 
genial  companion,  intelligent  and  wise,  and  thoroughly,  un- 
swervingly devoted  to  the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  Christ. 
She  was  unassuming,  self-possessed,  and  had  marked  decision 
of  character. 

When  Rev.  David  Rice  and  his  first  Kentucky  convert  and 
•elder,  Jacob  Fishback,  selected  her  husband  as  the  fittest  person 
they  knew  to  do  the  work  of  a  pioneer  evangelist  and  educator 
in  Kentucky,  it  was  her  voice  that  decided  his  acceptance. 
The  young  husband  was  in  the  Government  employ  as  sur- 
veyor in  the  Carolinas,  now  Tennessee,  with  every  prospect  of 
speedy  and  permanent  worldly  advancement.     But  when  these 


80  ■  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

men,  armed  for  mutual  protection,  urged  upon  the  surveyor  the 
need  of  the  gospel  and  education  in  Kentucky,  to  which  all 
eyes  were  then  turned,  and  the  seeming  impossibility  of  secur- 
ing these,  the  devoted  wife  deemed  it  her  privilege  and  highest 
duty  to  decide  that  this  was  the  call  of  God,  fully  appreciating 
the  responsibility  she  assumed. 

At  once,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  with  her  husband  and 
six  children,  she  made  the  journey  on  horse-back  through  the 
wilderness  to  Kentucky. 

From  that  date  she  was  the  bread-winner  of  the  family. 
Her  loom  was  at  the  same  time  the  family  support  and  an  im- 
portant educational  institution  both  in  Kentucky  then  and  after- 
ward in  Ohio.  That  loom,  and  subsequently  her  farms,  were 
the  source  of  the  ideas  upon  manual  training  that  were  at- 
tempted to  be  incorporated  into  many  of  our  earlier  educational 
institutions,  and  have  only  recently  been  fully  recognized. 

Nor  was  she  in  the  least  daunted  by  adversity.  When  the 
memorable  change  in  the  value  of  current  money  of  the  time 
ruined  the  finances  of  so  many,  she  was  prompt  and  cheerful 
with  patient  fortitude  to  re-establish  her  worldly  fortune.  But 
worldly  independence  was  to  her  strictly  and  merely  the  op- 
•  portunity  for  spiritual  and  intellectual  improvement.  What- 
ever estimate  may  be  put  upon  the  life-work  of  her  husband 
as  the  heroic  bishop  of  the  churches  in  these  regions,  that  work 
was  made  possible  by  her  delicate,  consecrated  hands.  That 
■possibility  was  her  soul-absorbing,  divinely  inspired,  self- 
sacrificing  life-work. 

She  was  intelligently  and  profoundly  religious  and  the 
children  of  the  church  who  learned  the  catechism  under  her 
motherly  instruction,  never  swerved  from  adherence  to  evan- 
gelical truth.  By  her  guidance,  discouraged  Christians  saw 
the  way  of  life  easier  and  straighter  under  that  increasing  light 
that  "shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day."  Those 
who  were  zealous  for  Christ  were  tenderly  drawn  to  regulate 
their  zeal  according  to  knowledge. 

Mrs.  Kemper  was  not  given  to  going  about  from  house  to 
house,  because  her  own  home,  first  on  the  north  side  of  Front 
street,  three  doors  west  of  Walnut,  then  on  the  west  side  of 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  81 

Sycamore  street,  two  doors  north  of  Third  street,  and  last,  after 
ndJi^  on  the  eastern  hills,  —  was  ever  open  to  and  filled  with 
those  who  sought  and  gained  Christian  fellowship.  To  the 
church  "her  price  was  far  above  rubies." 

Charlotte  Ludlow  Riske  is  the  other  type.  Brought  before 
the  ladies  of  this  Presbytery  in  vivid  light  a  few  months  ago 
and  alluded  to  again  to-night,  I  run  the  risk  of  repetition  in 
drawing  her  picture  as  a  ministers  wife.  Beautiful  in  face  and 
figure,  highly  cultured  and  accomplished,  we  find  her  letters  and 
journals  models  of  elegance  in  expression.  Letter- writing  was 
to  her  a  gift  and  a  grace  ever  contributing  to  the  profit  and 
pleasure  of  her  friends. 

As  Mrs.  Ludlow,  she  was  exposed  to  the  distractions  of 
military  social  life.  Through  it  all  she  preserved  her  sweet 
Christian  character,  but  it  was  only  after  a  painful  illness  that 
she  was  fully  aroused  to  a  sense  of  her  own  weakness  and  the 
needs  of  those  around  her.  "The  tempest  was  long  and  fear- 
ful," said  she,  "The  billows  rolled  over  me  and  I  was  far  from 
the  view  ot  a  single  earthly  hope  ;  but  I  was  guided  into  the 
haven  and  landed  on  the  Rock  of  Ages."  From  that  time  her 
whole  soul  was  absorbed  in  the  desire  to  save  others,  and  out 
of  this  desire  grew  the  organization  of  the  first  Bible  Society, 
and  I  give  her  own  language  in  an  account  of  the  first  meeting 
after  she  had  invited  many  friends  to  be  present  and  attest  their 
interest. 

"I  went  to  the  room  appropriated  to  the  purpose,  at  the 
designated  hour  and  seated  myself  at  the  table.  I  was  filled 
with  the  august  presence  of  the  Invisible  One,  whose  eye 
searcheth  all  hearts.  After  reading  a  portion  of  Scripture  from 
the  Prophet  Joel,  beginning  at  the  verse  "Fear  not,  O  land  ! 
Be  glad  and  rejoice,  for  the  Lord  will  do  great  things,"  I  closed 
the  book  and  prayed  for  Divine  aid  and  blessing.  Opening  a 
blank  book  I  made  a  minute  of  the  meeting  where  only  the 
Lord  and  myself  were  present.  *  *  *  O  God,  increase  and 
diflfuse  thy  word,  aud  accompany  it  with  efficacious  demonstra- 
tion, throughout  the  globe,  and  grant  that  all  persons  may  con- 


82  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

tribute  willingly  to  the  advancement  of  Thy  Kingdom  by 
giving  that  money  to  good  purposes  which  is  now  squandered 
in  vanity,  thoughtlessness  and  crime." 

Even  in  affliction  was  she  enabled  to  triumph  and  her  soul 
to  rise  on  the  wings  of  faith  far  above  the  sorrows  of  her 
earthly  lot.  As  the  wife  of  the  minister,  Mr.  Riske,  we  find 
her  going  by  night  to  the  dying  bed  ;  instructing  her  children 
on  the  Sabbath-day,  and  still  pushing  the  Bible  work  to  the 
"regions  beyond." 

In  1817  she  is  deeply  interested  in  the  establishment  of  an 
African  Sunday-school  in  the  Lancaster  Seminary  building  on 
the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Walnut  streets.  Again  her  progres- 
sive spirit  is  in  advance  of  the  age,  and  she  suggests  the  or- 
ganization of  a  missionary  society.  Later  we  find  her  rejoicing 
in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  language  of  the 
Delaware  Indians,  with  whom  she  had  been  in  sympathy  and 
friendship  since  her  earliest  days,  at  Ludlow  Station. 

Thus  she  worked,  wrote  and  prayed,  till  failing  health 
necessitated  removal  farther  West,  and  thus  she  spoke  on  tak- 
ing leave  of  the  place  where  she  had  rejoiced  and  sorrowed  for 
twenty-three  years. 

"Leaving  the  precincts  of  the  city  I  turned  to  take  a  last 
look.  Love  and  admiration  for  it  forced  from  my  heart  the 
exclamation,  "How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Israel." 

Oh,  Cincinnati !  May  the  God  of  Jacob  enlarge  thy  bord- 
ers, preserve  thee  from  tumult  and  every  evil,  and  increase  thy 
love  and  zeal  in  His  service." 


.> 


'.r~; ^ 


PUESBY'l'ERIAN    CHURCH,    PLEASANT    RIDGE,    O. 
Prcse7tt  House  of  Worship,  erected  1870. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PLEASANT  RIDGE 

CHURCH. 


By  Rev.  J.  H.  Walter. 


It  becomes  my  duty  as  pastor  of  this  church  to  speak  to 
you  in  regard  to  the  history  of  the  church.  I  wish  that  some 
one  better  acquainted  with  its  history  had  been  selected  to  per- 
form this  duty.  I  shall  say  nothing  in  regard  to  the  ministry 
or  eldership.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  region  was 
originally  one  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cincin- 
nati. It  was  organized  October  16th,  1790,  as  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Cincinnati  and  Columbia,  with  eight  members,  by 
Rev.  David  Rice,  of  Kentucky.  The  following  facts  are 
copied  from  the  records  of  the  Transylvania  Presbytery. 

April  27th,  1792,  Mr.  James  Kemper  was  appointed  to 
supply  the  churches  at  Cincinnati  and  Columbia  and  Round 
Bottom.  A  call  was  presented  to  Mr.  Kemper  October  3rd, 
1792,  and  he  was  ordained  and  installed  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Presbytrey  in  Cincinnati  October  24th,  1792. 

In  the  minutes  of  the  Presbytery,  April  24th,  1792,  we  find 
a  list  of  forty-six  chuiches,  among  them  the  church  of  Cincin- 
nati, but  Duck  Creek  and  Round  Bottom  are  not  in  the  list. 
October  7th,  1796,  the  people  of  Duck  Creek  and  Round 
Bottom  w^sre  permitted  to  erect  a  house  of  worship  not  nearer 
than  five  miles  to  Cincinnati.  From  this  date,  1796,  the 
history  of  the  church  may  be  very  fittingly  divided  into  the 
three  periods,  indicated  by  its  church  buildings.  The  first 
period,  from  the  log  church  to  the  first  brick  church. 

The  house  of  hewn  logs  was  erected  in  1797,  near  where 
the  present  building  stands.  The  tomb  of  the  Rev.  Wm. 
Hayden  indicates  the  spot.  A  reliable  tradition  in  the  family 
declares,  Mr.  Hayden  died  ten  years  after  the  log  house  was 
demolished  and  his  remains  were  buried   in  the   ground   over 


84  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

which  stood  the  pulpit  where  he  had  preached  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.      This    church   building   was   of  the    dimensions    of 
twenty-four  by  thirty  feet,  with  wide  slab  seats  without  backs, 
and  a  high  pulpit.     The  lighting  in  the  evening  was  hardly 
electric  at  first,  an  iron  bowl  with  common  lard  and  a  wick  of 
flannel,  and  later  the  home-made  dip  candle  in  the  tin  candle 
stick   that  hung  on  the  wall.     The  evening  meeting  was  an- 
nounced at  early  candle  lighting.      Here   in    so   primitive   a 
structure  your  ancestors  worshiped  God,  and  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  did  they  worship  him,  without  any  restrictions  of  gorge- 
ous tapestry  or  operatic  music.     The  ground  on  which  the  log 
church  was  built  was  by  an  act  of  congress  devoted  to  religious 
support  and  known  as  ministerial  lands.     A  subsequent  act  of 
congress  provided  for  the  sale  of  these  lands  and   the   money 
invested  for  the  purpose  named,  each  religious  society  receiving 
its  portion  of  interest  according  to  its  membership.     In  1846 
the  society  purchased  ten  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  church. 
By  this  purchase  the  cemetery  was  enlarged,  which  had  become 
too  contracted,  the  custom  of  burying  the  dead  near  the  church 
building   having    begun  very  soon  after  the  log  church  was 
erected.     Many  of  the  pioneers  of  this  region  rest  here  and 
the  representatives  of  four  martial  conflicts  are  here  buried  ; 
the  revolutionary  war,  the  war  of  1812,  the  war  with  Mexico 
and  our  civil  war. 

Rev.  Jas.  Kemper  supplied  this  church,  giving  part  of  his 
time  till  1807.  After  a  vacancy  of  two  years  Rev.  Daniel 
Hayden  in  1810  was  installed  pastor  and  continued  till  1835. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  earliest  sessional  records  of 
this  church  were  lost.  It  is  presumed  that  they  were  consumed 
in  the  burning  of  the  residence  of  Daniel  Reeder,  he  having 
been  the  clerk  at  that  time.  A  list  of  members  from  the  year 
1809  is  preserved.  The  records  of  the  session  began  with 
August  26th,  1814,  about  seventy-five  years  ago.  These 
minutes  contain  the  usual  receptions  by  profession  and  certifi- 
cate. There  were  cases  of  discipline,  but  the  care  and  patience, 
the  deliberation  and  precision  with  which  every  step  was 
taken,  according  to  our  form  of  government,  are  worthy  of 
imitation  in  these  last  days.     A  few   cases  of  discipline  were  ' 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  85 

more  serious,  as  gross  violations  of  moral  law  ;  some  were  of 
1  minor  offences,  at  least  passed  by  in  the  age  we  live,  as  neglect 
^  of  the  ordinances ;  some  as  the  misconceptions  relating  to 
popular  amusements  had  their  laughable  side. 
1  In  the  year  1818  a  meeting  of  the  congregation  of  the 
Duck  Creek  Presbyterian  Church  was  held  for  the  purpose  of 
electing  three  trustees,  the  result  being  the  election  of  Lewis 
Drake,  Abraham  Wilson  and  Daniel  Schenk.  Thomas  Ross 
was  appointed  clerk,  and  Andrew  Baxter,  treasurer.  The 
name  of  the  society  was  changed  to  that  of  the  Pleasant  Ridge 
Presbyterian  Church.  A  charter  was  obtained  dated  Septem- 
ber 1st,  1818.  The  electors  names  it  may  be  of  interest  to 
know,  viz  :  James  Lyon,  an  elder,  who  in  1838  became  an 
elder  in  Lane  Seminary  Church,  Wm.  Wilson,  Wm.  Baxter, 
David  McGouhey,  John  Clark,  Patrick  Long,  Andrew  Baxter 
James  Agee,  Francis  Kennedy,  John  Agnew,  James  C.  Wood, 
Isaac  McCallister,  Thomas  Cosby,  Wm.  Clark,  Isaac  Colman, 
Hugh  Scofield  and  the  trustees  already  named.  How  earnestly 
we  desire  that  more  information  might  be  gathered  as  to  the 
prosperity  and  the  adversity  of  this  period  of  nearly  thirty 
years.  We  know,  however,  the  sacrifices  that  were  made  in 
this  early  period  of  laying  the  foundations,  and  that  these 
Christian  fathers  were  men  "who  had  understanding  of  the 
times,  who  knew  what  Israel  ought  to  do."  They  appreciated 
the  value  of  religious  services.  They  were  men  of  exemplary 
piety,  were  sound  in  the  faith.  As  to  missionary  interest  we 
have  the  following  record  :  "Be  it  remembered  that  on  Mon- 
day, the  second  of  September,  1822,  an  auxiliary  missionary 
society,  to  the  foreign  missionary  society,  was  formed  in  the 
Pleasant  Ridge  church."  What  were  the  fruits  of  that  society 
we  have  no  knowledge. 

We  come  now  to  the  second  period  of  the  church  history. 
On  the  twenty-third  of  July,  1825,  a  public  meeting  was  called 
in  the  language  of  the  minutes,  "to  take  into  consideration 
whether  it  would  be  proper  to  attempt  to  build  a  meeting 
house  at  present  or  not,  and  whether  it  would  be  proper  to 
dispose  of  their  lot  in  Section  29  or  not."  A  committee  of 
three,  consisting  of  Samuel  Cosby,  Andrew  Baxter  and  James 


86  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

Sampson,  was  appointed  to  attend  to  this  business  and  reported 
subsequently.     The  result  was  the  erection  of  a  brick  building 
35  X  50  feet,  about  where  the  present  building  now  stands.     A 
subscription  was   raised,  amounting  to  about  seven  hundred 
dollars.     This   subscription  was  accepted  by  the  builders,  Mr. 
Bartholomew    Fowler    and  Andrew  Baxter,  as  their  compen- 
sation,  with    the    addition   of  the   timber   of  the  log   church, 
valued  at  sixty  dollars,  and  thirty  acres  of  ground  which  had 
previously  been  donated  by  Andrew  Baxter  and  John   Wood 
where  they  first  proposed  to  build  and  afterwards  was  offered 
for  sale.     A  deed  was  made  to  Mr.  Baxter  for  this  ground  for 
furnishing  the  brick  for  this  building,  which  was  occupied  the 
following  year,  1826.     It  was   with   much   sacrifice   that  the 
house  was  erected.     The  largest  subscription  was  fifty  dollars 
by  Daniel  Schenk,  the  smallest  one   dollar.      Your  ancestors 
were   not  rich.     They  had  just  cleared  away  the  forests  and 
market  prices  were  low,  with  corn  at  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a 
bushel  and  other  products  in  proportion,  there  was  not  much 
profit. 

In  1839  alterations  were  made  in  this  house.  A  new 
pulpit  was  built  and  the  sittings  altered,' which  were  free,  and 
every  family  supporting  the  church  had  the  privilege  of  select- 
ing a  seat.  As  the  population  increased,  the  attendance  at 
church  also  increased,  there  being  no  other  church  near  Pleas- 
ant Ridge  except  the  Baptist  church  on  Duck  Creek, 

The  membership  of  the  church  in  1825  was  about  one 
hundred  ;  in  five  years,  1830,  it  had  increased  to  one  hundred 
and  eighty,  the  largest  number  ever  on  roll.  From  that  time 
to  1838  the  average  membership  per  year  was  about  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty.  In  ten  years,  to  1848,  the  membership  rapidly 
declined,  it  being  less  than  half  of  the  preceding  ten  years,  or 
about  seventy  in  1848.  This  sudden  decrease  was  probably 
owing  largely  to  the  disruption  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
some  members  being  dismissed  to  the  Lane  Seminary  Church, 
also  to  Lockland  and  Reading  and  other  new  school  Presby- 
terian churches. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  this  period  that  a  visit  was 
made  by  Rev.  Jas.  Gallager  and  Rev.  Frederick  Ross,  and  as 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  87 

the  result  there  were  several  conversions  and  a  number  added  to 
the  church.  No  very  powerful  revivals  have  blessed  the  church 
in  its  history,  but  there  have  been  many  gentle  showers  result- 
ing in  the  conversion '  of  twenty-five,  fifteen,  ten,  or  less  in  a 
year. 

As  to  the  Sunday-school  of  this  church  in  its  early  history 
we  have  no  record.  We  know  only  that  there  was  such  a 
school  conducted  in  the  usual  way  of  those  times  by  memor- 
izing texts  of  Scripture.  The  Bible  was  the  text  book,  not  the 
lesson  leaf  of  modern  times. 

The  second  period,  it  will  be  seen,  was  one  of  rapid 
growth  and  rapid  decline  in  its  membership. 

We  come  now  to  the  third  period  in  the  history  of  the 
•church.  In  the  spring  of  1870  it  was  resolved  to  erect  a  new 
church  building.  Among  other  reasons  the  former  church  be- 
ing unsafe  for  occupancy.  A  subscription  of  $8,000,  after- 
wards increased  to  $13,000,  was  raised  and  a  building  com- 
mittee appointed,  consisting  of  John  A.  Clark,  John  Cortelyon 
and  Wm.  Durrell,  Jr.  A  plan  was  adopted  making  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  house  42  x  72  feet,  with  a  lower  room. 

On  the  fifth  of  June,  1870,  the  congregation  worshipped 
for  the  last  time  in  the  old  brick  church,  where  for  nearly  half 
a  century  they  had  assembled.  The  precious  memories  that 
filled  the  mind,  the  joys,  the  sorrows,  can  be  imagined. 

The  corner-stone  of  this  present  building  was  laid  Sep- 
tember 12th,  1870.  The  usual  documents  were  deposited  and 
an  address  made  by  Rev.  James  Gill,  of  Reading.  Mr.  James 
Sampson,  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  congregation  and 
the  oldest  stone  mason  in  this  country,  who  had  performed  a 
similar  service  in  the  erection  of  the  former  building,  placed 
and  sealed  the  corner-stone. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  August,  1871,  the  church  began  to 
worship  in  the  lower  room  and  continued  there  for  twelve 
years,  till  1883,  when  the  main  audience  room  was  furnished, 
lighted  and  heated.  Other  improvements  have  'been  made 
since  in  the  Sunday-school  room,  increasing  the  conveniences 
for  school  work. 


88  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

The  debt  upon  the  church  has  been  paid  ;  the  exterior  and 
interior  have  been  improved  ;  a  parsonage  built  at  a  cost  of 
$3,700,  $1,000  of  v^rhich  w^as  left  for  the  purpose  by  elder  Wm. 
Durrell  as  a  legacy  ;  a  legacy  also  by  Miss  Maria  Ward  has 
aided  in  these  improvements,  besides  many  liberal  subscriptions. 

As  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  this  church  in  this  last 
period  of  twenty  years,  it  has  varied.  There  have  been  times 
of  discouragement  and  yet  times  of  grow^th  and  prosperity. 
The  church  has  a  faithful  eldership,  the  society,  hard  w^orking 
and  efficient  trustees. 

Two  churches  organized,  one  a  mile  north  and  another  two 
miles  south,  have  prevented  as  large  an  increase  as  would  other- 
wise have  been  seen,  since  a  number  of  members  were  dis- 
missed to  these  churches.  Perhaps  frequent  changes  in  the 
pastorate  since  1835  have  been  a  cause  of  slower  growth  in  the 
history  of  this  church.  The  average  of  pastorates  since  that 
year  has  been  about  four  years,  the  present  pastorate  of  eight 
years  being  the  longest  in  thirty-five  years. 

The  church  has  been  composed  of  a  substantial,  united 
people.  Its  orthodoxy  has  never  been  questioned.  It  has 
maintained  the  ordinances  regularly  and  gathered  some  fruit, 
and  has  exerted  its  silent  influence  in  this  community  where  it 
was  planted  nearly  a  century  ago  ;  and  if  the  earnestness  and 
activity  of  its  young  people  may  be  the  forecast  of  the  future, 
it  will  enter  on  a  new  century  with  fair  prospects  and  will  ac- 
complish its  work  under  the  blessing  of  that  God  who  was 
"  our  help  in  ages  past,"  and  who  is  "  our  hope  in  years  to 
come." 


REV.    SAMUEL    J.    MILLER. 
1837-1844. 


REV.    SIMEON    BROWiN. 
1852-1855. 


REV.    J.    P.    VANDYKE. 
ISSa-lFGO. 


Pastors  of  t/ii-  Presbyterian   Cliiireli,  Pleasant  Ridge^  O. 


MEMORIES  OF  THE  PASTORS  OF  THE 

CHURCH. 


By  Rev.  W.  S.  Acomb. 


We  can  find  no  more  suitable  approach  to  the  consideration 
of  the  subject  before  us  than  to  state  our  sincere  interest  in  this 
occasion  and  our  oneness  of  feeling  with  those  whose  appreci- 
ation of  the  fitness  of  things  led  them  to  plan  for  the  cele. 
bration  of  the  Centennial  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  Ohio 
valley. 

Here  where  we  now  stand  were  unbroken  solitudes,  save 
as  the  Indian  stepped  with  soft  moccasined  foot  and  glided 
like  a  wild  beast,  as  he  had  then  become,  among  the  trees.  He 
was  the  constant  menace  to  the  would-be  settler  for  all  these 
years  until  "Mad  Anthony  Wayne"  dispossessed  him  and 
drove  him  away  in  1794. 

A  hundred  years  backward  carries  us  into  the  semi-dark- 
ness of  the  forest  primeval ;  into  the  times  when  nature  pre- 
sented herself  in  a  thoroughly  hostile  spirit ;  when  all  that  the 
existence  of  man  required,  not  to  say  anything  of  comfort,  must 
be  wrested  from  most  unwilling  hands. 

We  live  at  a  period  when  the  labors  and  sacrifices  of  many 
generations  and  heroes  are  enjoyed,  and  we  can  scarcely  con- 
ceive of  anything  different  from  this.  But  a  hundi*ed  years 
removes  us  to  the  very  beginning  of  things  in  Southern  Ohio, 
when  each  family  must  supply  itself  with  the  very  means  of 
subsistence,  clothing  and  shelter.  When  we  consider  even  the 
conditions  of  living  in  the  times  of  the  first  settlement  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation  must  impress  us  as  being  very  great. 
I  suppose  that  unless  one  has  had  some  personal  experience  of 
densely  wooded  regions,  the  absence  of  all  the  modern  con- 
veniences such  as  provision  stores,  telegraphs  and  base  bui'ners  ; 
unless  he  has  had  to  catch  fish  or  shoot  game  before  he  could 


90  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

get  breakfast,  he  can  have  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  hardships  of 
pioneers.  I  confess  that  I  look  back  to  the  days  of  the  early 
settlers  of  these  regions  with  sincere  admiration  for  the  men 
and  women  who  not  only  braved  the  natural  and  circumstantial 
hardships  of  unbroken  forests,  poverty  perhaps,  Indians  cer- 
tainly, and  who  nevertheless  did  not  forget  their  allegiance  to 
God  requiring  them  not  only  to  worship  and  serve  Him  them- 
selves, but  to  extend  a  knowledge  of  his  love  and  goodness 
also  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son. 

I  am  to  review  the  history  of  this  church  as  it  concerns 
the  worthy  men  who  have  as  sacred  heralds  proclaimed  God's 
truth — the  glad  tidings — or  as  embassadors  declared  the  terms 
of  agreement  between  God  and  man,  or  as  examples  to  the 
flock  and  experienced  believers  have  ministered  to  the  particu- 
lar needs  of  the  individuals  who  have  composed  this  parish. 

Many  of  these  ministers  have  been  personally  and  most 
affectionately  known  to  the  people  present  on  this  occasion, 
either  because  of  appreciated  labors,  friendly  acquaintanceship, 
or  by  ties  of  kinship.  There  are  here  those  who  look  upon 
them  as  spiritual  fathers,  those  who  are  united  to  them  as 
fathers  of  their  flesh  also.  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  give 
you  a  just  conception  of  what  i:,  implied  in  the  relationship  of 
minister  and  people  as  conceived  by  the  faithful  pastor,  arid 
what  effort  and  solicitude  the  correct  apprehension  gives  rise 
to.  But  that  I  will  not  even  attempt.  I  shall  be  obliged  in 
traversing  rapidly  the  ground  laid  out  for  me  to  do  little  more 
than  glance  at  the  dates  of  birth  and  death,  and  beginning  and 
ending  of  ministerial  relationship.  In  a  field  such  as  this  has 
been,  its  origin  running  back  into  the  dates  of  the  first  attempt 
to  settle  this  part  of  Ohio,  ministerial  work  was  necessarily 
without  much  prospect  of  immediate  gain. 

Pleasant  Ridge  Church  has  had  seventeen  ministers  in  its 
history  of  one  hundred  years.  Each  period  of  ministerial 
labor  up  to  the  present  time,  if  we  may  for  the  moment  pause 
here  hoping  that  the  present  pastorate  may  greatly  change  the 
average,  the  average  up  to  the  present  has  been  a  little  less 
than  six  years  ;  or,  leaving  out  Mr.  Walters'  term,  sixteen 
ministers  have   served  the  church  ninety-two  years,  which  is 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  91 

exactly  five  and  three-fourths  years  each.  Of  the  seventeen,  only 
seven  have  been  installed  as  pastors  ;  but  out  of  the  hundred 
years  the  seven  pastors  have  covered  sixty-eight  years  of  service 
here,  giving  an  average  of  more  than  nine  and  a  half  years 
each,  while  ten  stated  supplies  have  averaged  but  three  years 
and  two  months.  We  might  infer  something  in  favor  of  the 
settled  relation  from  these  statistics  as  conclusive  to  perman- 
ency and  doubtless  to  the  growth  and  welfare  of  the  church 
were  all  the  facts  reliable. 

The   first  pastor  of  this  church  was  one  who  was  also  the 
first  pastor  of  any  Presbyterian  church  in  Ohio.     We  have  no 
information  concerning  him  except  that  afforded  in  the  valuable 
and  published  sketch  of  his  life  contained  in  an  address,  the 
subject  of  which  was  "The  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
on  Walnut  Hills,  Cincinnati,"  now   called   the   First   Church, 
delivered  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Monfort  a  few   years   since.     It  is   not 
needful  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  to  enter  into  the  de- 
tails of  the  life  of  that  sturdy  pioneer,  stalwart  Christian  and 
faithful  evangelist  and  pastor.  Rev.  James  Kemper.     The  sort 
of  family  from  which  he  came  may  be  doubtless  inferred  cor- 
rectly from  the  interesting  fact  recorded  in  the  sketch  alluded 
to,  that  in  his  father's  house  in  Virginia,  to  be  read  and  believed 
and  blessed  by  all  who  passed   by,  was  carved  this   scripture 
sentence  :     "Believe  on   the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt 
be  saved,  and  thy  house."    He  came  to  Cincinnati  in  1790,  was 
made  pastor  of  the  church  which  at  that  time  was  Cincinnati 
and  Columbia  in  1792.     In  1796  he  became  the  pastor  of  Duck 
Creek  and  Round  Bottom,  which  he  continued  to  serve  until 
1807.     In  1817  he  organized  a  Presbyterian  church  on  Walnut 
Hills.     The  intervening  time  he  seems  to  have  spent  in  Ken- 
tucky and  in  Ohio  serving  churches  and  doing  the  work  of  an 
evangelist.    He  served  the  church  which  he  planted  on  Walnut 
Hills  until  his  days  of  preaching  were  ended.     He  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty  years,  nine  months  and  twenty  days,  August  20th, 
1834. 

Reading  the  life  of  this  man  as  it  is  presented  in  the  brief 
sketch  alluded  to  I  am  led  to  feel  that  his  was  a  vigorous  piety 
and  to  exclaim,  "there  were  giants  in  those  days." 


92  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

We  come  now  to  the  days  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Hayden", 
whose  labors  here  cover  the  entire  period  of  his  ministerial 
life.  Here  he  preached  his  third  sermon  and  here  he  preached 
his  last.  I  am  indebted  for  the  facts  of  his  life  to  a  funeral 
discourse  preached  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson.  The  years  of  his 
pastorate  are  from  1810  to  1835 — a  quarter  of  a  century.  He 
came  from  Pennsylvania.  He  was  descended  from  Presbyterian 
parents.  His  father  was  an  elder.  In  his  early  manhood  he 
came  into  contact  with  the  skeptical  opinions  of  the  times,  and 
for  a  time  was  largely  swayed  in  his  opinions  by  them.  But 
his  opposition  to  truth  was  speculative  and  not  vicious,  so 
when  the  truth  was  presented  to  his  mind  and  accompanied  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  he  acknowledged  the  claim  of  God  to  his 
person  and  life.  His  conversion  was  marked  and  decisive,  al- 
most revolutionary  in  its  character,  like  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  ; 
and  like  him  also,  he  henceforth  devoted  himself  to  the  cause 
of  Christ  with  all  the  strength  of  his  powers. 

He  entered  and  graduated  from  Jefferson  College,  taught 
two  years  in  an  academy  and  then  began  his  ministerial  life,  as 
he  was  then  received  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Erie 
as  a  probationer  for  the  ministry. 

The  period  of  the  beginning  of  this  pastorate  at  Pleasant 
Ridge  was  one  of  great  excitement  and  trial  in  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  large.  With  other  earnest  and  clear  sighted  men 
the  influence  of  error  and  disruption  had  to  be  met  and  des- 
troyed. These  were  the  days  of  Shaker  and  New  Light 
propagation  and  wild  fire  experiences,  supposably  religious. 

Dr.  Wilson  briefly  characterized  these  times  in  saying  : 
"The  powerful  revivals  of  religion  with  which  the  churches 
had  been  blessed  were  greatly  marred  and  almost  destroyed  by 
the  devices  of  Satan  and  the  weakness  of  man.  Four  of  our 
ministers  had  become  Shakers,  one  had  become  a  Unitarian, 
three  were  Semipelagians,  and  more  than  twenty  had  hoisted 
the  Arminian  flag  with  this  inscription,  'Cumberland  Presby- 
terians.' "  Mr.  Hayden  it  appears  was  a  man  of  deep  con- 
viction and  stalwart  courage  in  defending  the  truth  as  he 
understood  it.  It  appears  also  that  he  was  self-denying  in  his 
labors  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel.     He  was  at  Pleasant  Ridge 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  93 

at  a  time  when  church  services  were  rare  and  precious,  like 
veritable  angel  visits,  outside  and  around  for  many  miles  in 
almost  every  direction  from  this  centre.  And  I  judge  that 
during  the  twenty-five  years  he  was  pastor  of  this  church  he 
visited  the  outlying  districts  and  held  services,  because  I  find 
the  memory  of  his  name  fragrant  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  this  point. 

The  third  minister  of  this  church  was  the  Rev.  Samuel 
James  Miller.     He  became  the  pastor  and  served  the  church 
from  1837  to  1844.     We  are  indebted  for  any  facts  we   may 
mention  to  a  sketch  of  his  life  presented  at  his  funeral  by  Rev- 
Norman  Jones.      Brother   Miller    was   born    near    Lancaster, 
Penn.,  June  11th,  1802,  died  at  Washington  Court  House,  Sep- 
tember 24th,  1887.     He  had  been  a  minister  eight  years  when 
called  to  the  pastorate  at  Pleasant  Ridge,  and  preached   for 
more  than  forty  years  afterward.     He  was  an  active,  laborious 
and   earnest,    and    consequently    successful    servant    of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  work  of  preaching  for  over  fifty-nine  years.     He 
was  pastor  of  the  church  at  Washington  C.  H.  for  fifteen  years, 
and  supplied   for  longer  or  shorter   periods    the    churches    of 
Bethel    and    Pisgah,   Wilmington,  Union  and   New  Holland. 
For  a  period  of  three  years  just  preceeding  his  decease  he  be- 
came  totally  ]?lind,  but  presented  a  bright  exemplification  of 
cheerful  submission,  having  put  his  trust  in  one  who  never  fails 
his  people. 

Rev.  S.  S.  Potter  writes  to  the  pastor  saying  :  "I  recollect 
Mr.  Miller — a  grand  good  man."  The  aged  wife  of  Mr.  Miller 
has  just  departed  this  life.  Her  funeral  took  place  only  last 
week. 

Nothing  concerning  the  persons  who  bore  the  names  of 
the  three  succeeding  ministers,  viz.  Rev.  Edward  Wright,  Rev. 
James  K.  Barck  and  Rev.  Samuel  Haire,  except  their  time  of 
service  is  known  to  me.  I  regret  that  I  had  not  the  necessary 
time  to  make  that  diligent  search  that  doubtless  would  have 
brought  to  light  something  concerning  noble  and  faithful  men. 
Rev.  Simeon  Brown  was  pastor  from  1852  to  1855.  He  was 
an  able  preacher  and  had  a  large  congregation  of  hearers.  He 
died  February  16th,  1869,  at  Ottomwa,  Iowa. 


94  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

The  pastorate  of  Rev.  J.  P.  Vandyke  follows.  We  shall 
append  here  the  published  obituary  of  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Vandyke 
as  being  sufficiently  condensed  and  full  to  give  us  an  accurate 
idea  of  the  man  who  served  this  church  from  1856  to  1860, 
the  eighth  minister.  The  record  says  :  "We  have  here  to 
record  the  death  of  another  minister  of  our  church.  Rev. 
John  P.  Vandyke  died  at  his  residence  in  Reading,  Ohio,  on 
Wednesday  evening,  August  13th,  1862.  His  disease  was 
pulmonary  consumption,  which  had  laid  him  aside  from  active 
ministerial  labor  for  two  years  or  more.  He  was  born  October 
18th,  1803,  in  Adams  County,  Penn.  His  parents,  Peter  and 
Hannah  Vandyke,  removed  to  Warren  county  when  he  was 
quite  young.  He  was  brought  up  in  the  Presbyterian  church. 
His  parents  were  members  of  the  church  at  Unity,  not  far  from 
Mason.  He  was  admitted  to  the  communion  of  the  church  in 
early  life  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Peter  Monfort.  He 
soon  felt  inclined  to  seek  the  gospel  ministry  and  commenced 
a  course  of  study  in  preparation  for  it.  He  accomplished  his 
literary  course  privately  and  at  college  with  credit  to  himself. 
He  graduated  in  the  first  senior  class  in  Miami  University  in 
1828.  In  June,  1829,  he  was  called  to  West  Union,  Ohio,  and 
was  soon  ordained  and  settled  there  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Chillicothe.  He  remained  at  West  Union  until  1852,  when  his 
pastoral  relation  was  dissolved  and  he  removed  to  Red  Oak,  in 
Brown  county,  Ohio.  He  served  that  church  for  two  years. 
In  1854  he  was  called  to  Franklin,  Indiana.  He  removed  to 
that  place  and  preached  to  that  church  for  nearly  two  years, 
but  did  not  accept  the  call.  Here  he  and  his  family  suffered 
much  from  sickness,  and  in  his  own  case  it  is  supposed  the 
seeds  of  the  disease  from  which  he  died  were  planted. 

In  1856  he  accepted  a  call  from  Pleasant  Ridge,  Ohio,  and 
here  he  continued  while  he  was  able  to  labor  statedly.  He 
afterward  preached  occasionally  as  he  was  able.  He  labored 
faithfully  and  with  but  little  interruption  during  the  whole  of 
his  life  until  his  last  sickness.  He  preached  in  all  3,893  ser- 
mons, which  amounts  to  not  much  less  than  three  sermons  a 
week.  Of  these  2,990  were  preached  while  in  West  Union, 
240  while  at  Red  Oak,  160  while  at  Franklin,  and  338  while 


REV.    JAMES    A.    McKEE,    I).   D. 
18(i(i-lS70. 


REV.    LUMAN    A.    ALDRICH. 

1S71-1S75. 


«    1 


i\  '^^v 


REV.    D.    I.    JONES. 

J876-1881. 


REV.    J.    H.     WALTER. 

Present  Pastor. 


Pastors  of  thf  I'rcsbvlcriaii  CliUrc/i,  Plcasaiit  Rldgc,  O. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  95 

at  Pleasant  Ridge.  In  1829  he  married  Nancy,  daughter  of 
the  Hon.  Thomas  Kirker,  of  West  Union,  Ohio,  one  of  the 
framers  of  the  first  constitution  of  Ohio,  and  speaker  of  the 
senate  and  also  a  ruling  elder  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  He 
was  an  able  divine,  remarkable  for  his  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures  and  for  his  skill  in  their  interpretation.  His 
preaching  was  eminently  doctrinal,  and  yet  it  had  such  an  ex- 
perimental odor  and  was  so  earnestly  and  practically  applied 
as  to  be  fruitful  of  much  good.  A  goodly  number  united  with 
the  church  under  his  ministry.  He  was  kind  and  gentle  and 
loved  by  all.  He  died  in  a  peaceful  trust  in  the  Lord.  He 
was  a  deeply  earnest  preacher,  sometimes  rising  to  passionate 
utterance  in  which  every  muscle  of  his  body  seemed  in  motion." 

The  ninth  and  tenth  ministers,  in  Rev.  Isaac  Monfort  and 
Rev.  J.  R.  Colmeny,  were  here  for  but  brief  periods  ;  one  for 
one  and  the  other  for  two  years.  The  former  is  still  living  but 
not  now  preaching,  having  honorably  retired.  The  latter's 
address  is  Monrovia,  Cal.  He  was  a  genial  man  and  well 
liked  as  a  pastor. 

The  seven  whose  names  follow  were  personally  known  to 
me.     The  Rev.  R.  B.  Herron  ministered  here  but  one  year. 

Rev.  James  A.  McKee,  D.  D.,  now  of  Thomasville,  Ga., 
was  pastor  of  this  church  from  1866  to  1870.  In  general  Mr. 
McKee  says,  "it  was  laborious  often  discouraging,  nevertheless 
fruitful.  During  a  little  less  than  four  years  of  work  the 
church  nearly  doubled  in  all  the  elements  of  church  life.  We 
enjoyed  more  than  one  refreshing  from  the  Lord." 

Dr.  McKee  was  born  in  Adams  county,  Penn.,  December 
25th,  1812.  He  graduated  from  Hanover  College  in  1837.  He 
studied  theology  at  Hanover  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by 
the  Madison  Presbytery  at  Carrollton,  Ky.,  September,  1839. 
He  taught  in  the  preparatory  department  of  Hanover  College 
a  year  and  a  half,  while  at  the  same  time  preaching  at  New 
Washington  and  New  Lexington,  Ind.  In  the  spring  of  1840 
he  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  those  churches,  and 
maintained  this  relation  for  more  than  ten  years.  He  was  at 
Minneapolis,  Cambridge  City,  Pleasant  Ridge  and  Vernon, 
Ind,  covering  a  period  of  about  thirteen  years.     Then  health 


96  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

gave  way  and  since  that  time  he  has  lived  in  the  South.  The 
eighteen  years  which  have  intervened  have  been  spent  in 
preaching  for  the  sake  of  the  work  as  strength  permitted. 
Brother  McKee  writes  me  that  in  every  field  in  which  he  has 
labored,  North  or  South,  with  one  exception  a  new  church 
building  has  been  erected  or  steps  have  been  taken  toward  a 
building,  resulting  in  a  new  house  or  important  additions  to 
the  old  one,  and  he  is  able  to  enumerate  nine  buildings  which 
may  thus  be  spoken  of. 

Of  his  work  at  Pleasant  Ridge  Dr.  McKee  has  this  to  say 
specifically,  "My  pastorate  was  nearly  four  years  in  length, 
from  June,  1866  to  May,  1870.  It  was  a  period  of  mingled 
lights  and  shadows.  I  unexpectedly  found  the  church  without 
that  degree  of  brotherly  love  and  forbearance  which  is  always 
desirable.  The  young  people  had  grown  up  without  coming 
into  the  communion  of  the  church.  For  a  few  years  preceed- 
ing,  the  membership  of  the  church  had  been  decreasing  in 
numbers.  The  records  of  the  church  will  show  that  during  my 
pastorate  the  membership  of  the  church  was  nearly  doubled. 
Contributions  to  benevolent  objects  increased  in  the  same  pro- 
portion. The  trend  of  things  was  entirely  changed  into  marked 
progress  and  development.  Two  or  three  very  precious  seasons 
of  refreshing  were  enjoyed  and  there  was  marked  progress  in 
the  essential  elements  of  church  prosperity.  There  was  an 
eflScient  Sabbath  School  in  which  the  pastor  taught.  A  young 
men's  meeting  was  organized  and  kept  up  on  Sabbath  after- 
noons with  a  good  deal  of  interest.  It  is  due  to  say  that 
Brother  Thomas  Rodgers  of  sainted  memory  rendered  valuable 
assistance  in  this  meeting.  In  addition  to  the  weekly  congre- 
gational prayer  meeting  there  was  at  least  one  neighborhood 
meeting  for  prayer  maintained.  The  old  brick  church  became 
insufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  congregation.  Before  I 
left,  steps  had  been  taken  and  the  foundation  had  been  partly 
prepared  for  the  erection  of  the  beautiful  house  in  which  the 
church  now  worships.  And  now  though  a  fifth  of  a  century 
has  passed  away  I  yet  await  alone  on  the  banks  of  Jordan  the 
Master's  call  to  come  home.     But  there  yet  lingers  in  memory 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  97 

the  rich  fragrance  of  gracious  refreshing  and  precious  friends 
in  Pleasant  Ridge." 

When  Dr,  McKee's  ministry  was  fully  inaugurated,  say 
after  about  a  year,  the  congregations  in  attendance  became  very 
large.  The  house  would  be  about  as  full  as  it  could  well  be. 
When  the  people  were  dismissed  they  would  linger  about  the 
door  inside  and  out  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  pass  through  the  throng.  Every  body,  this  whole 
community  over,  at  that  time  was  in  the  practice  of  attending 
the  church.  I  do  not  mean  strictly  every  body,  but  every  body 
who  was  even  remotely  related  to  the  church  or  congregation. 
This  was  an  interesting  scene  and  one  long  to  be  remembered. 

Dr.  McKee  and  his  wife  have  recently  endowed  a  profes- 
sorship in  Hanover  College,  Ind.,  giving  twenty  thousand 
dollars  to  the  college  for  this  purpose.  Certainly  the  people 
who  sat  under  the  ministry  of  the  word  during  the  period  now 
had  in  mind  will  rejoice  to  hear  this  proof  of  earnestness  and 
example  of  love  to  Jesus  of  their  revered  pastor. 

Of  the  Rev.  Lumen  A.  Aldrich  we  can  say  but  a  brief 
word.  He  was  born  in  Cincinnati  December  20th,  1835,  grad- 
uated at  Marietta,  1860,  and  at  Lane  Seminary,  1863.  He  was 
at  the  Sixth  Church,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  from  1863  to  1868  ; 
Indianapolis  from  1868  to  1870  ;  at  Pleasant  Ridge  from  1871 
to  1875  ;  at  Goshen  1875  and  1876,  and  at  Bond  Hill  till  his 
death,  April  25th,  1882. 

I  may  say  of  Mr.  Aldrich  that  he  was  a  superior  preacher. 
He  delivered  his  carefully  prepared  sermons  in  a  way  that 
enchained  attention.  His  earnestness  was  whole  souled.  His 
discourses  were  heard  with  great  admiration  and  constantly 
increasing  numbers.  He  was  a  man  of  piety,  benevolent  in  an 
unostentatious  manner,  and  only  anxious  to  do  the  Master's 
will. 

The  Rev.  Charles  Thomas  was  here  but  a  year,  and  in  so 
brief  a  time  could  hardly  make  an  impression. 

The  Rev.  D.  I.  Jones  succeeded  Brother  Thomas ;  his 
ministry  here  extended  over  five  years.     He  was  both  a  good 


98  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

preacher  and  a  good  pastor.  He  was  popular  and  sympathetic 
in  his  mode  of  preaching  and  in  meeting  the  people,  and  left 
his  charge  with  the  kindest  wishes  of  all. 

Rev.  M.  D.  A.  Steen  was  supply  but  one  year.  He  is 
now  a  resident  of  Woodbridge,  Cal. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Walter,  the  present  pastor,  was  installed  in 
December,  1882.  Much  has  been  accomplished  materially  and 
spiritually  for  the  church  in  this  period. 

With  grateful  hearts  do  we  remember  these  fathers  and 
brethren.  Many  of  the  number  are  now  enjoying  the  eterna* 
reward  of  faithful  service. 


MEMORIAL  OF  THE  ELDERS. 


By  Charles  F.  Thompson. 


Had  some  one  anticipated  wisely  the  present  occasion, 
much  information  could  have  been  secured  from  the  many  old 
members  lost  from  this  church  during  the  last  twenty  years. 
The  records  are  missing  of  the  most  interesting — the  early — 
portion  of  the  church  history.  From  a  session  record  begun 
August,  1814,  we  have  an  entry  that  "the  minutes  and  all 
other  papers  belonging  to  the  session  of  Duck  Creek  Church 
which  were  in  the  hands  of  Daniel  Reeder,  the  former  clerk, 
were,  it  is  supposed,  burned  when  his  house  was  consumed." 
Daniel  Reeder  was  the  first  session  clerk  in  all  probability. 
The  loss  of  the  records  created  some  uncertainty  in  the  com- 
pilation of  a  roll  of  membership  and  on  the  application  of 
E.  Y.  Kemper  for  a  certificate,  the  existing  session  do  not  know 
of  his  right  to  it  and  inquire  of  Joseph  Reeder,  "a  former  elder,'* 
who  from  his  knowledge  of  the  past  supports  Mr.  Kemper's 
claim  to  membership.  Mr.  Joseph  Reeder  then  is  entitled  to 
a  place  prior  to  the  roll  in  the  session  book  of  August  25th, 
1814,  in  which  we  have  James  Baxter,  William  Wilson,  Enos 
Huron  and  Thomas  Mclntyre,  elders.  Mr.  Huron  being  clerk 
succeeding  Daniel  Reeder. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  99 

We  have  little  knowledge  of  the  Reeders  or  their  ancestry, 
and  a  mention  only  of  the  death  of  Joseph,  October  16,  1829. 

William  Mclntyre,  born  in  1769,  located  in  this  vicinity 
some  time  prior  to  1800,  served  this  church  as  elder  until  his 
removal  in  the  year  1836  ;  he  died,  as  we  learn  from  the  monu- 
ment in  the  cemetery,  in  1844. 

James  Baxter,  a  native  of  Tyrone,  Ireland,  came  to  this 
country  in  1795  and  purchased  a  farm  opposite  this  site  in 
1797,  a  portion  of  which  is  occupied  by  his  descendant?  to-day. 
His  death  occured  September,  1821. 

William  Wilson,  of  Scotch  Irish  ancestry,  migrated  from 
near  Lancaster,  Penn.,  and  settled  on  a  farm  near  what  is  now 
known  as  Elmwood,  the  exact  time  not  known.  His  death 
occured  June  16th,  1838. 

Enos  Huron,  born  in  New  Jersey,  September,  1766,  mi- 
grated to  Ohio  in  1796  or  1797,  settling  on  Duck  Creek,  where 
he  died  in  1862.  A  record  of  his  baptism  as  an  adult  in  the 
year  1812  establishes  his  new  birth.  He  is  remembered  as  a 
quiet  but  elevated  Christian,  a  constant  attendant  upon  the 
church  services  ;  without  children  of  his  own  he  found  it  in  his 
heart  to  care  for  and  raise  orphans  to  lives  of  usefulness. 

James  Lyon  was  ordained  August  31st,  1816,  and  was 
faithful  in  his  presence  at  session  meetings  until  his  dismissal 
to  another  church  in  July,  1832. 

John  Clark  was  ordained  August,  1816,  at  the  same  time 
with  James  Lyon  ;  he  withdrew  by  letter  June  24th,  1828.  His 
death  is  recorded  November  16th,  1842. 

William  Logan  is  mentioned  as  "resuming  his  seat  in  the 
session  May  13th,  1821."  He  was  dismissed  August  7th,  1836, 
and  died  October  11th,  1841. 

James  Clark,  born  April,  1796,  on  a  farm  near  Carthage, 
admitted  by  certificate  from  Bethel  Church,  Indian  Creek, 
April  29th,  1821.  was  ordained  elder  June  7th,  1823.  He  was 
transfered  to  Reading  church  April  14th,  1843,  of  which  he 
continued  an  elder  until  his  death  in  July,  1859.  He  was 
reluctantly  parted  with  and  only  after  a  detailed  statement  of 
reasons — the  inability  of  an  invalid  member  of  his  family  to 
come  so  far  to  church — was  he  released. 


100  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

Francis  Kennedy  became  a  member  on  examination  August 
25th,  1814,  and  was  ordained  elder  June  7th,  1823. 

William  Baxter  became  a  member  September  7th,  1816,  on 
examination,  and  ordained  June  7th,  1823. 

Israel  Brown,  born  in  1800,  baptized  and  was  admitted  on 
examination  in  April,  1828.  He  was  ordained  elder  Novem- 
ber 26th,  1830,  and  was  elder  continually  at  the  church  in 
Montgomery  until  his  death  in  1860.  He  was  singing  clerk 
for  many  years,  and  otherwise  active  in  church  work,  being 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 

David  Lee  was  admitted  April  19th,  1829,  ordained  elder 
November  26th,  1830,  and  dismissed  January  2nd,  1839. 

John  Wilson,  son  of  Elder  William  Wilson,  was  born 
Christmas,  1796,  probably  in  Pennsylvania,  was  ordained  elder 
November  26th,  1830.  He  lived  on  a  farm  near  Carthage, 
where  he  died  January  11th,  1854.  He  and  his  wife  were 
regular  in  church  attendance,  usually  on  horseback  in  earlier 
years.     He  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all. 

John  Mahard  was  admitted  by  certificate  April  12th,  1834, 
chosen  elder  August  25th,  1837,  and  dismissed  October  29th, 
1842. 

Albert  Artelyon,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  was  elected 
elder  August  25th,  1837  ;  he  had  been  elder  in  another  church 
and  was  dismissed  to  Reading  church  in  November,  1841. 
After  a  life  of  faith  and  prayer  his  death  occurred  at  the  age  of 
seventy-three. 

Columbus  Williams,  born  August,  1805,  was  admitted  a 
church  member  on  examination  April  18th,  1840,  was  ordained 
January  26th,  1845.  Mr.  Williams  was  considered  a  model 
ruling  elder,  giving  of  his  time,  energy  and  substance  abund- 
antly to  the  cause  of  Christ.  A  man  of  strong  character,  he  had 
unlimited  influence  upon  his  acquaintances.  His  earnest  piety, 
zeal,  constancy,  prudence  and  kindness  secured  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  all.  His  life  being  one  of  high  spiritual  culture 
and  enjoyment  he.  died  as  he  lived,  full  of  hope  and  joy,  on 
November  15th,  1870. 

William  Durrell,  born  in  Dinmont,  Maine,  in  June,  1804, 
with  his  parents  settled  in  what  is  now  known  as  Avondale  in 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  101 

1818.  He  united  with  this  church  on  examination  in  1851, 
was  ordained  elder  in  1855,  and  was  an  efficient  officer  until 
his  death  in  September,  1885,  in  his  eighty-third  year.  He 
was  of  a  hopeful  and  courageous  disposition,  and  a  man  of 
fine  Christian  character.  As  an  elder  he  was  noted  for  wise 
counsel  and  faithfulness  to  duty,  until  the  infirmity  of  years 
made  it  impossible  to  come  so  far  to  church.  His  benefactions 
to  the  church  were  constant,  the  last  one  a  legacy  of  one 
thousand  dollars  for  the  parsonage  keeps  fresh  our  memory  of 
his  liberality. 

William  W.  Wood,  born  in  February,  1813,  in  this  town- 
ship, on  a  farm  where  his  parents  had  settled  in  1809,  united 
with  the  church  in  1843  and  was  ordained  elder  in  1855.  A 
man  of  orderly  method,  systematic  and  regular  in  performance 
of  duty,  he  was  one  to  be  relied  upon  with  confidence.  He 
was  devoted  to  the  church,  giving  of  his  time  and  meijns  to  all 
its  undertakings.     His  death  occured  in  1875. 

Thomas  Rodgers  was  admitted  to  membership  December 
14th,  1838.  He  was  efficient  for  many  years  as  singing  clerk 
in  this  church,  was  chosen  elder  in  1868,  served  faithfully  until 
his  death  March  5th,  1888,  at  the  age  of  seventy.  His  amiable 
disposition  and  lovely  character  endeared  him  to  every  one, 
securing  especially  the  love  and  respect  of  the  young  people. 
Many  of  us  can  bear  testimony  of  his  godly  life,  love  of  this 
church  and  liberality. 

Joseph  R.  Monfort,  a  son  of  Rev.  David  Monfort,  served 
the  church  faithfully  as  elder  for  two  years  until  his  recent 
removal. 

The  present  session  consists  of  Harrison  C.  Durrell,  or- 
dained in  1868,  Charles  G,  Hutchenson,  W.  S.  Johns,  and 
Charles  F.  Thompson. 

The  church  has  had  in  its  history  twenty-six  elders.  Wm. 
Durrell  serving  thirty  years,  Enos  Huron,  twenty-eight ;  Colum- 
bus Williams,  twenty-five  ;  H.  C.  Durrell,  twenty-two  ;  W. 
Mclntyre,  twenty -two ;  Thomas  Rodgers,  twenty  ;  James 
Clark,  twenty.  At  one  time  there  were  as  many  as  nine  pres- 
ent at  session  meetings  in  the  early  days. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  many  names  have  mere  mention 


102  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

only.  It  would  be  a  pleasant  duty  to  write  and  privilege  to 
hear  definitely  of  the  characters,  individuality  and  lives  of  the 
laymen  whose  services  were  so  loyally  given  and  who  suc- 
ceeded in  continuing  to  this  day  an  organization  of  much 
promise  and  usefulness. 

It  will  be  proper  on  this  occasion  to  refer  to  names  of 
other  officers  prominent  by  their  long  connection  with  this 
church,  of  which  James  Lampton,  deacon,  stands  first.  Born 
in  1794  in  Turkey  Bottom,  in  1798  removing  with  his  parents 
to  this  vicinity,  he  w^as  a  faithful  and  consistent  member 
since  September  30th,  1819,  He  remembered  riding  on  the 
logs  with  which  the  first  meeting  house  was  built,  and  was  the 
mason  in  1825  for  the  brick  church  removed  for  the  erection  of 
the  present  edifice.  He  also  served  the  church  as  singing 
clerk,  trustee  and  clerk  of  the  society  for  many  years.  His 
death  occured  at  his  home  where  he  had  lived  for  fifty-six 
years,  in  the  year  1877,  at  the  age  of  nearly  eighty-four  years. 

William  Brown,  a  native  of  Scotland,  born  in  1802,  re- 
moved to  Pleasant  Ridge  in  1832,  and  becoming  a  member 
here  1836  was  elected  deacon.  He  was  a  godly  man,  firm  in 
his  convictions  of  religious  truth,  a  lover  of  Zion  and  highly 
respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  His  love  for  the  church  was 
evidenced  by  a  legacy  of  five  hundred  dollars,  the  interest 
thereon  to  be  used  for  the  support  of  the  gospel  in  the  church. 
He  died  November  20th,  1884,  aged  eighty-two  years. 


LETTER  FROM  J.  M.  McCULLOUGH. 


Rev.  J.  H.  Walters, 

Pastor  of  the  Pleasant  Ridge  Churchy  Pleasant  Ridge. 

Dear  Sir  : 

Herewith  I  hand  you  the  following  statement,  written 
from  memory,  having  no  record  of  facts  to  which  I  could  refer 
as  a  means  of  correcting  my  memory,  but  I  think  it  will  be 
found  a  plain  statement  of  unrecorded  facts  and  events,  relative 
to  the  early  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pleasant 
Ridge. 

From  my  infancy  up  to  the  present  time  I  have  been  in- 
timately associated  with  friends  and  members  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cincinnati,  and  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Pleasant  Ridge.  Many  of  my  relatives  were  num- 
bered amongst  the  founders  of  both  churches,  and  from  them 
I  first  learned  the  facts  I  now  give  you.  It  is  not  known  to 
many  of  the  congregation  of  the  Pleasant  Ridge  Presbyterian 
Church  how  closely  the  history  of  their  church  is  identified 
with  the  history  of  the  first  settlement  of  Cincinnati  and  the 
surrounding  country  in  Ohio. 

When  Fort  Washington  was  established,  where  Cincin- 
nati now  stands,  General  St.  Clair  was  the  Civil  Governor  of 
the  North-western  Territory,  and  in  1791,  by  authority  of 
Congress,  he  became  Military  Governor  and  in  command  of  the 
anny  of  the  North-western  Territory.  In  November,  1791, 
he  met  w^ith  a  sore  defeat  in  a  disasteous  battle  with  the  In- 
dians. More  than  nine  hundred  men  were  killed,  and  this 
brought  mourning  into  almost  every  house  and  family  in  Cin- 
cinnati, for  nearly  one-half  of  the  settlers  had  entered  upon 
this  fatal  campaign  of  General  St.  Clair.  The  people  were 
disheartened,  and  many  of  them  prepared  at  once  to  leave  and 
cross  the  Ohio  river  and  find  a  place  of  greater  safety,  and  it 
was  proposed  in  Congress  to  abandon  the  North-western  Ter- 


104  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

ritory  entirely  an4  make  the  Ohio  river  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  United  States.  At  that  time  the  Rev.  James  Kemper 
and  others  had  erected  a  church  in  Cincinnati,  although  a  small 
and  rough  structure,  yet  it  vv^as  a  place  of  public  worship, 
where  the  people  resorted,  carrying  with  them  their  weapons 
of  war,  that  they  might  defend  themselves  if  attacked  by  In- 
dians. Mr.  Kemper  was  a  man  of  courage,  and  taught  the 
congregation  that  it  was  their  duty  as  Chiistians  to  maintain 
their  ground  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio  river,  and,  although 
many  of  their  congregation  had  lost  their  lives  in  General  St. 
Clair's  defeat,  they  should  not  give  up.  I  was  assured  by  on6 
who  was  with  General  St.  Clair  in  his  defeat  that  the  Rev. 
James  Kemper  and  his  little  Presbyterian  church  was  all  that 
prevented  the  settlers  from  making  a  complete  stampede  for  the 
south  side  of  the  Ohio  river. 

All  the  settlements  in  the  Miami  country  were  abandoned 
for  a  time,  except  those  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Fort 
Washington.  General  Wayne  wus  placed  in  command  of  the 
North-western  Territory  and  the  people  began  to  take  courag^. 
There  were  four  settlements  near  Fort  Washington  where 
stockades  had  been  built ;  one  at  Round  Bottom,  known  as 
Gerard's  Station,  in  the  Little  Miami  Valley  ;  one  at  or  near 
w^here  Cumminsville  now  stands,  known  as  Ludlow^'s  Station  ; 
one  near  where  Carthage  now  stands,  known  as  W^hite's 
Station,  and  one  a  little  north  of  where  Reading  now  stands, 
known  as  Cunningham's  Station  ;  these  were  all  in  the  ]SIill 
Creek  Valley.  It  was  well  known  by  the  settlers  that  Indians 
always  traveled  upon  the  hill  tops,  hence  the  whites  settled  in 
the  valleys. 

The  North-western  Territory  was  inhabited  by  seven  tribes 
of  Indians  who  had  joined  together  to  fight  the  settlers.  These 
tribes  concentrated  at  a  point  near  where  Springfield  now 
stands,  and  here  the  great  war  path  of  these  tribes  of  Indians 
commenced  and  passed  down  over  the  hill  tops,  near  where 
this  church  stands,  to  the  mound  which  was  an  important  and 
permanent  land-mark  for  Indians  in  the  wilderness.  From  the 
mound  their  war  path  w.ent  directly  to  a  point  on  the  Ohio 
river,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Licking  River  in  Kentucky, 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  105 

and  this  fact  no  doubt  Avas  the  cause  which  located  Cincinnati 
where  it  is.  Fort  Washington  was  certainly  established  there 
for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  these  Indians  that  came  in  on 
this  great  war  path  on  their  passage  to  Kentucky  for  the 
purpose  of  hunting,  or  rather  for  the  purpose  of  preying  upon 
the  settlers  of  Kentucky. 

In  the  year  1792,  the  Rev.  James  Kemper  was  authorized 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  to  establish  a 
church  at  Cincinnati  and  at  some  settlement  not  within  five 
miles  of  Cincinnati,  and  accordingly  he  established  a  chuixh 
in  Cincinnati,  now  known  as  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Cincinnati,  and  a  church  at  Round  Bottom  or  Gerard's  Station, 
now  known  as  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pleasant  Ridge. 
This  church  was  first  located  at  Round  Bottom  because  of  its 
safety  from  the  Indians,  being  out  of  the  way  of  their  war 
path. 

In  1791  the  army  of  the  North-western  Territory  was  en- 
trusted to  the  leadership  of  General  Wayne,  and  his  first  work 
was  to  drive  the  seven  tribes  of  Indians  from  their  great  war 
path  ;  and  in  1794  he  made  his  greatest  eflort  and  succeeded 
so  far  as  to  invite  a  settlement  of  whites  where  or  in  the  vicinity 
of  where  Pleasant  Ridge  now  stands,  and  then  the  removal  of 
the  Presbyterian  chuixh  from  Round  Bottom  to  this  place  was 
agitated,  and  in  1796  the  Rev.  James  Kemper  determined  to 
remove  the  Presbyterian  church  from  Round  Bottom  to  the 
place  where  it  now  stands,  then  known  as  Duck  Creek,  now 
known  as  Pleasant  Ridge,  and  in  1796  a  log  church  was  built 
near  where  the  public  vault  now  stands.  Francis  and  David 
Kennedy  cut  most  of  the  timber  used  in  building.  The  con- 
gregation was  made  up  mostly  from  people  residing  at  Lud- 
low's, White's  and  Cunningham's  Stations.  In  these  days  it 
was  not  thought  a  great  hardship  to  travel  ten  miles  in  attend- 
ance upon  church,  provided  it  could  be  done  with  entire  safety 
from  the  Indians.  *  . 

In  the  year  1796  the  first  burial  was  made  in  the  church 
yard,  a  soldier,  said  to  have  been  one  of  General  Washington's 
body-guards.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  grave  can  be  found  yet 
with  the  year  1796  upon  the  head-stone. 


106  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

For  many  years  the  church  was  without  a  pastor,  depend- 
ing entirely  upon  the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  James  Kemper  to 
provide  a  supply  for  the  pulpit,  and  often  on  the  Sabbath 
morning  Mr.  Kemper,  with  five  sons,  all  on  horseback  riding 
in  Indian  file,  might  be  seen  passing  from  Walnut  Hills  to  the 
Pleasant  Ridge  church.  In  1809  the  Rev.  David  Hayden  was 
installed  the  first  pastor  of  the  church.  Mr.  Hayden  was  a 
devoted  school-master  and  became  the  most  popular  and  suc- 
cessful teacher  in  the  country.  He  firmly  believed  that  the 
humble  school-master  was  a  more  important  personage  than 
the  soldier  in  full  military  array.  If  ever  he  was  remiss  in  his 
duties  as  pastor,  it  was  because  of  his  duties  as  school-master. 
His  entire  time  was  given  to  the  church  and  the  school. 

Respectfully, 

J.  M.  McCuLLOUGH. 


Statement  of  William  Pierson,  of  Silve;rton,  Concern- 
ing THE  Origin  of  Name  Pleasant  Ridge 
AND  THE  Log  Church. 


A  Mr.  Brewster  lost  his  wife  and  child  in  a  cabin  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Mr.  Holmes,  near  Milldale.  Brewster 
called  on  my  grandfather,  Samuel  Pierson,  informed  him  of 
his  loss,  and  the  question  arose  where  the  dead  could  be 
buried.  Brewster  was  told  of  a  pleasant  ridge  one-half  a  mile 
west  of  McFarland's  station,  now  Woodford,  the  same  being 
the  site  of  the  church.  They  were  buried  there,  my  grand- 
father told  me,  near  what  is  the  front  of  the  present  church. 
This  about  1798.  Immediately  afterward  the  old  log  church 
standing  down  on  the  Lester  farm,  half  a  mile  south  of  present 
site,  was  removed  to  the  new  site,  that  is  near  the  grave  of 
Mrs.  Brewster.  My  grandfathers,  Samuel  Pierson  and  Joseph 
Sampson,  helped  haul  the  logs.  James  Sampson  and  Lewis 
Pierson,  both  my  uncles,  then  four  or  five  years  old,  told  me 
they  went  along  and  rode  on  the  logs.  They  were  both  born 
in  1794.  William  Pierson. 


A  SKETCH  OF  LANE  SEMINARY. 


Rev.  H.  p.  Smith,  D.  D. 


In  this  celebration  we  shall  hear  much  of  what  God  has 
wrought  in  this  Ohio  Valley  in  the  last  hundred  years.  What 
he  has  w^rought  in  education  is  as  wonderful  as  any  part  of  the 
story.  The  endowed  schools  are  but  a  fraction  of  the  work 
done.  For  by  the  strong  common  sense  of  the  people  of  this 
state  and  the  other  states  of  this  great  territory  an  immense 
system  of  free  schools  was  early  organized  for  the  education  of 
our  citizens.  But  it  has  always  been  true  that  private  effort 
must  supplement  public  provision  for  higher  intellectual  train- 
ing. In  this  effort,  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  been 
in  the  lead.  Her  sense  of  the  need  of  an  educated  ministry 
has  always  been  so  great  that  she  has  made  a  distinct  effort  to 
supply  this  need.  For  this  reason  Lane  Seminary  may  especi- 
ally claim  a  place  here  to-day,  as  the  direct  child  of  the  Pres- 
byterianism  whose  birth  we  celebrate. 

This  direct  connection  is  made  clear  by  two  facts  :  First, 
the  thought  of  an  educational  institution  here  was  long  cher- 
ished in  the  heart  of  the  Rev.  James  Kemper,  the  pioneer  of 
Presbyterianism  in  this  region  and  first  pastor  of  the  First 
Church.  Mr.  Kemper  himself  had  struggled  hard  in  his  prep- 
aration for  the  ministry.  He  met  and  overcame  difficulties 
w^hich  would  have  quenched  the  ardor  of  most  men  and  would 
have  kept  them  out  of  the  ministry.  But  his  struggles  made 
him  appreciate  all  the  more  highly  the  advantages  of  education, 
and  we  can  sympathize  with  the  evident  gratification  shown 
by  him,  as  he  records  in  his  diary  for  1833  the  fact  tha^  he  now 
has  a  literary  and  theological  seminary  at  his  door. 

As  early  as  1819  two  of  Mr.  Kemper's  sons  had  at  his 
earnest  request  provided  for  an  academy  on  Walnut  Hills  tliat 
year  established  by  him.     In  1825  it  was  proposed  by  the  Pres- 


108  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

byterian  General  Assembly  to  establish  a  Western  Theological 
Seminary.  Mr.  Kemper  was  active  in  the  endeavor  to  have 
this  seminary  located  at  Walnut  Hills,  and  vv^as  a  Commis- 
sioner to  the  Assembly  in  company  with  Dr.  J.  L.  Wilson  of 
the  First  Church  and  elder  Caleb  Kemper — their  direct  object 
being  to  secure  action  in  favor  of  this  location.  The  question 
not  being  decided  that  year,  he  wrote  again  the  following  year 
(1827)  proposing  to  make  a  substantial  gift  of  ground  with 
the  academy  building  and  a  frame  dwelling  house  were  this 
location  selected.  The  Assembly,  however,  decided  in  favor 
of  "  Allegheny  Town,"  being  apparently  afraid  to  go  too  far 
west. 

But  it  was  a  time  to  build,  and  not  a  time  to  refrain  from 
building.  This  section  of  country  was  filling  up  with  un- 
precedented rapidity.  The  application  of  steam  to  the  navi- 
gation of  the  western  rivers  and  of  Lake  Erie  increased  the 
facility  of  immigration  in  a  way  that  seemed  marvellous  to  a 
generation  unacquainted  with  railroads.  Cincinnati  was  al- 
ready a  business  centre  and  a  centre  of  culture  as  well.  The 
quality  of  the  immigration  w^as  of  the  best.  Dr.  Beecher 
wrote  in  regard  to  the  coming  of  Dr.  Stowe  :  "  It  is  a  mistake 
that  the  talents  and  acquirements  of  Mr.  Stowe  would  not  be 
as  highly  and  as  justly  appreciated  here  as  in  New  England- 
A  full  proportion  of  the  minds  that  are  filling  up  the  new 
states  of  the  West  are  of  the  first  order  of  intellectual  vigor, 
and  often  of  taste  and  learning  and  intellectual  action  ;  and  a 
large  portion  of  the  people  who  are  not  educated  are  persons 
of  shrewd  mind,  and  quick  discernment  to  perceive  empty 
pretensions  to  learning  and  talents,  and  will  respond  respect- 
fully, yea  gladly  to  the  touch  of  real  talent.  But  Ohio  is  not 
a  frontier  state,  or  Cincinnati  a  new  settlement,  or  the  work 
demanded  here  that  of  a  pioneer.  On  the  contrary,  Cincinnati 
is  as  really  a  literary  emporium  as  Boston  and  is  rapidly  rising 
to  an  honorable  competition.  Indeed  at  the  present  time  I 
firmly  believe  that  there  is,  according  to  the  number  ot  her  in- 
habitants, as  much  intellectual  and  literary  activity  here  as  in 
Boston,  constituting  an  atmosphere  which  he  would  breathe 
with    great   pleasure,   and    in    which   his   literary  attainments 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  109 

would  not  pass  undiscovered  or  unappreciated."  If  this  could 
be  said  of  Cincinnati  in  1834  it  is  clear  that  in  the  preceding 
decade  such  a  people  must  have  been  alive  to  the  educational 
needs.  And  indeed  the  founding  of  Lane  Seminary  came  at  a 
time  wfhen  the  people  at  large  had  a  mind  to  build.  Four 
colleges  had  been  founded  in  the  Northw^estern  territory  before 
the  year  1825.  In  the  eight  years  following  no  less  than  seven 
were  added  to  the  list  (including  Lane  Seminary  in  1829),  and 
among  these  were  institutions  so  important  to  Presbyterianism 
in  this  ixgion  as  Western  Reserve  College  (1826),  Hanover 
(1827),  Marietta  (1831),  and  Wabash  (1832).  The  import- 
ance to  the  West  of  the  right  sort  of  education — this  was  the 
thought  that  inspired  the  founders  of  these  institutions.  That 
this  thought  was  not  confined  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  (if  by  nothing  else)  that  the  brothers 
Lane,  who  made  the  first  substantial  money  gift  to  the  semin- 
ary, were  not  Presbyterians,  but  Baptists.  But  if  not  the  only 
ones,  Presbyterians  were  in  the  van  in  this  good  work,  and  our 
place  in  this  centennial  is  secured  not  only  by  the  interest  of 
the  Kempers — father  and  sons — but  by  the  fact  that  the  first 
President  of  our  Board  of  Trustees  was  Dr.  J.  L.  Wilson,  then 
and  for  so  many  yeai's  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  object  of  the  founders  of  Lane  Seminary  was  dis- 
tinctively practical.  They  adopted  the  langiiage  of  the  Apos- 
tle :  "  How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have 
not  believed  ?  And  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom 
they  have  not  heard?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher?  and  how  shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent?" 
This  great  valley  of  the  Ohio  was  filling  up  with  settlers. 
These  myriad  souls  needed  the  Gospel.  To  carry  the  Gospel 
to  them  preachers  were  needed.  To  suppose  supplies  might 
be  looked  for  from  the  East  was  nearly  as  absurd  as  for  the 
earlier  eastern  states  to  depend  upon  Scotland  and  the  North 
of  Ireland.  No  !  A  ministry  native  to  the  soil  must  be  raised 
up  and  that  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  in  order  to  evange- 
lize these  growing  settlements.  The  sense  of  need  and  the 
realization  of  its  urgency  are  seen  in  two  provisions  of  the 
founders   of  the   seminary.     It   was   to  be  first  a  manual  labor 


110  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

institution.  It  was  thought  that  by  farming  and  by  working 
at  the  trades  students  could  support  themselves  and  save  time 
otherwise  needed  to  earn  money.  In  this  way  it  was  thought 
the  need  of  preachers  could  be  soonest  met.  Another  evidence 
of  the  same  practical  aim  is  probably  the  provision  of  a  pre- 
paratory school  in  the  so-called  literary  department.  The  or- 
gauizers  of  the  young  institution  had  serious  doubts  of  getting 
young  men  with  sufficient  collegiate  training  to  enter  the  theo- 
logical course,  and  they  proposed,  therefore,  themselves  to 
furnish  this  training.  The  experiment  failed  after  a  very  brief 
period,  perhaps  partly  because  the  colleges  already  named  as 
founded  about  the  same  time  were  found  to  supply  what  was 
Avanted.  But  the  making  of  the  experiment  shows,  I  think, 
that  the  seminary  was  founded  to  meet  a  felt  want,  and  that 
its  founders  had  very  definite  ideas  of  what  the  want  was. 
Dr.  Beecher's  plea  for  the  West  well  voices  the  opinion  of 
these  far  sighted  men.  "The  thing  required  (he  says)  for  the 
civil  and  religious  prosperity  of  the  West  is  universal  education 
a" id  moral  culture,  by  institutions  commensurate  to  that  result, 
the  all-pervadmg  influence  of  schools  and  colleges  and  sem- 
inaries and  pastors  and  churches."  When  we  come  to  inquire 
how  these  can  be  secured,  it  is  clear  that  the  West  with  the 
material  conditions  upon  her  cannot  at  once  do  it  for  herself. 
She  must  have  time  and  she  must  have  aid.  It  is  clear,  he 
says,  "  that  the  great  body  of  the  teachers  of  the  West  must 
be  educated  at  the  West.  It  is  by  her  own  sons  chiefly  that 
the  great  work  is  to  be  consummated,  which  her  civil  and  liter- 
ary and  religious  prosperity  demands.  Experience  has  evinced 
that  schools  and  popular  education  in  their  best  estate  go  not 
far  beyond  the  suburbs  of  the  city  of  God.  The  ministry  is  a 
central  luminary  in  each  sphere  and  soon  sends  out  schools  and 
seminaries  by  the  hands  of  sons  and  daughters  of  its  ow^n 
training.  But  the  ministry  for  the  West  must  be  educated  at 
the  West.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  with  the  churches  of  the 
West,  and  pious  and  talented  young  men  are  there  in  great 
numbers,  willing,  desiring,  impatient  to  consecrate  themselves 
to  the  glorious  work." 

There   spoke  by   the    mouth    of   the    great    preacher    the 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  Ill 

thought  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  region,  justifying 
its  call  to  the  founding  of  Lane  Seminary.  If  more  evidence 
were  needed  as  to  the  distinctly  evangelical  and  practical  aim 
of  those  w^ho  had  this  work  in  charge,  if  would  be  found  in 
the  call  of  Dr.  Beecher  himself  to  the  head  of  institution.  Dr. 
Beecher  was  not  known  as  a  great  philosopher,  a  great  scholar, 
or  a  great  educator.  He  had  all  his  life  been  a  pastor,  and  his 
pastoral  career  had  shown  him  first  as  a  fearless  preacher  of 
sound  doctrine.  He  had  stemmed  the  strong  current  of  Uni- 
tarianism  in  Boston.  He  had  there  preached  the  old  Gospel  in 
its  integrity,  whether  men  would  bear  or  whether  they  would 
forbear.  Secondly,  he  had  been  a  warm  sympathetic  earnest 
advocate  of  active  spiritual  life — a  preacher  of  power  wliose 
message  brought  revival  quickening  to  the  churches.  Such  a 
man  was  the  man  needed  here — most  of  all  if  he  could  com- 
municate this  power  to  his  pupils  would  he  prove  to  be  the 
right  man  for  the  I'ight  place  ;  and  such  he  proved  to  be. 

You  will  not  expect  at  a  time  when  so  many  good  things 
are  in  store  for  you  that  I  should  give  at  any  length  the  history 
of  an  institution  at  your  own  doors.  Its  history  is  your  iiis- 
tory.  The  work  it  has  done  has  been  to  your  benefit,  and 
where  it  has  failed  it  has  suffered  from  causes  which  have  af- 
fected you  also  imfavorably.  I  have  tried  to  outline  the  spirit 
of  early  Presbyterianism  as  seen  in  the  founding  of  Lane 
Seminary.  That  spirit  is  a  spirit  of  warm  interest  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  an  interest  trying  to  meet  in  a  practical  way  the 
need  for  an  earnest  and  competent  ministry  of  the  Gospel. 

This  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  history  of  Lane 
Seminary.  As  the  man's  earlier  years  are  the  most  important 
of  his  life,  so  it  often  is  with  the  institution.  The  formative 
period  determines  the  quality  of  all  that  comes  later.  We 
have  discovered  of  late  that  for  history  the  origins  are  all  im- 
portant, and  the  German  professor  was  not  far  wrong  who  in 
lecturing  on  German  history  began  with  Confucius.  Lane 
Seminary  was  born  from  that  spirit  of  Presbyterianism  in  this 
region  which  I  have  tried  to  describe,  and  that  spirit  has  char- 
acterized the  institution  down  to  the  present  time  as  a  spirit  of 


112  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

evangelical   and   practical  earnestness  in  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ. 

The  formative  period  in  the  life  of  a  man  or  an  institution 
is  not  only  the  most  important,  it  is  also  the  most  interesting. 
We  follow  with  absorbed  sympathy  the  story  of  early  con- 
flicts— the  storm  and  stress  period  of  .genius  battling  with  it- 
self and  with  circumstances.  But  when  these  conflicts  are 
over  and  the  hero  just  settles  down  to  the  routine  of  his  work 
and  the  humdrum  monotony  of  gaining  his  bread  and  butter 
the  interest  relaxes.  The  uprising  of  a  great  people  on  behalf 
of  liberty  and  truth  holds  us  spellbound  as  we  follow  its  on- 
ward sweep.  But  the  conduct  of  the  war  soon  becomes  a 
matter  of  course.  The  mighty  movement  dissipates  itself  in 
petty  channels.  To  hearts  throbbing  with  emotion,  voices 
shouting  with  enthusiasm,  succeeds  the  dull  round  of  the  camp 
with  daily  drill  and  guard  mounting  ;  an  occasional  skirmish 
for  variety  and  the  great  decisive  battles  few  and  far  between 
— perhaps  these  less  decisive  than  we  could  wish.  So  it  is 
with  an  institution.  It  is  born  of  a  high  spirit,  a  spirit  of 
resolution  and  enthusiasm.  It  must  soon  settle  down  to  the 
regular  round  of  work,  the  monotony  of  daily  performance  of 
daily  tasks,  perhaps  to  daily  making  shift  for  daily  recurring 
needs.  In  large  part  this  was  the  history  of  Lane  after  its 
foundation.  It  had  its  early  struggles  and  its  reverses — more 
than  its  share,  so  thought  its  friends,  no  doubt.  The  great 
financial  crisis  of  1837  dealt  it  a  serious  blow.  The  great 
political  struggle  affected  it  seriously,  leading  at  one  time  to 
the  secession  of  nearly  all  the  students  in  the  institution.  But 
most  serious  of  all  disasters  was  the  unhappy  division  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  On  these  things  as  I  have  said  I  do  not 
mean  to  dwell,  though  I  think  the  time  has  come  when  v^-e  can 
look  at  them  dispassionately  and  though,  I  think,  they  have  a 
lesson  for  us  all.  Rather  would  I  dwell,  did  time  allow,  upon 
the  twenty  years  which  have  elapsed  since  our  happy  reunion, 
years  which  have  cemented  that  union  so  that  the  seam  is  no 
longer  discernible,  and  which  give  a  happy  promise  for  the  new 
century  upon  which  we  now  enter.  For  that  which  is  past 
Lane  Seminary  can  with  you  adopt  the  language  of  an  inspired 


REV.    S.    R.    WILSON,    D.  D. 
1846-1861. 


REV.    J.     E.    ANNAN. 
18(12-1864. 


Pastors  of  the  First  Presbyterian  CIntreh,  Cincinnati,  O. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  113 

Apostle  :  "Having  therefore  obtained  help  of  God,  I  continue 
unto  this  day,  witnessing  both  to  small  and  great,  saying  none 
other  things  than  those  which  the  prophets  and  Moses  did  say 
should  come,  that  Christ  should  suffer  and  that  he  should  be 
the  first  that  should  rise  from  the  dead,  and  should  show  light 
unto  the  people  and  unto  the  Gentiles."  This  is  our  message. 
To  this  message  we  hope  to  be  faithful  in  our  day  as  the  fathers 
were  in  theirs. 


THE  EARLY  STRUGGLES  OF  AN  EDUCA- 
TIONAL INSTITUTION. 


By  President  Ethelbert  D.  Warfield. 


The  feeling  which  I  have  as  I  stand  here  to-day  to  take 
part  in  these  exercises  is  how  young  we  are.  I  hear  some  say- 
ing we  are  grown  old  to-day — we  Presbyterians,  we  insti- 
tutions, founded  by,  or  growing  out  of,  Presbyterianism  in  the 
Ohio  Valley.  But  to  me  the  thought  is  how  young,  how  com- 
pletely yet  in  infancy,  are  we,  and  the  influence  which  dwells 
in  our  institutions  ;  and  I  am  reminded  of  the  little  boy,  who, 
when  asked  by  a  gentleman  how  old  he  was,  replied  :  "  Why 
mister,  I  ain't  old  at  all  ;  I'm  nearly  new." 

During  my  summer  vacation  this  year,  I  visited  the  Uni- 
versity of  Gottingen,  1737,  one  of  the  more  youthful  of  the 
German  universities  ;  of  Marburg,  which  dates  from  1527,  and 
Leyden,  which  reckons  its  existence  from  1575,  and  then  I  i^e- 
turned  to  my  own  old  college  at  Oxford,  where  at  least  as 
early  as  the  year  1149  there  was  a  university  famous  enough 
to  draw  a  great  lecturer  out  of  the  even  older  university  at 
Bologna,  in  Italy. 

A  hundred  years  is  but  a  brief  epoch  in  such  a  life  as  that 
And  in  the  institution  which  they  founded  in  the  early  days  of 
Ohio,  the  founders  of  Miami  University  saw  a  new — they  per- 
chance dared  dream  an  equally  glorious — Oxford.     There  was 
one  thing  which  marked    those   men  and   distinguished   them 


114  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

from   the   present  generation  :  they  were  sowers  ;  they  sowed" 
broadly  and  they  sowed  well.     The  seed  they  sowed  has  come 
to  rich   fruition,  and  may  know  richer  fruitage  yet,  despite  the 
fact  that  we   to-day  are  all  reapers,  and  think  the  old  stocks 
should  yield  at  least  two  crops  per  annum. 

Those  brave  pioneers,  like  strong  men  everywhere  and  in 
every  age,  had  a  deep  respect  for  religion  and  education.  It 
was  not  that  kind  of  respect  which  recognized  it  as  good  for 
others,  but  did  not  seek  it  for  themselves  ;  it  was  an  ever-living 
desire,  an  ever  unsated  thirst,  for  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
of  his  earthly  handiwork.  The  result  was  that  the  church  and 
the  school-house  appeared  in  every  settlement ;  that  men 
sacrificed  much  for  these  two  institutions,  and  made  every 
effort  in  their  power  to  secure  to  their  children  the  benefits  of 
religion  and  of  education. 

Mr.  Roosevelt,  in  his  able  history  of  the  "Winning  of  the 
West,"  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  pioneers,  applicable 
no  less  to  this  section  of  Ohio  than  to  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see which  he  had  immediately  in  view.     He  says  : 

"The  backwoodsmen  were  Americans  by  birth  and  par- 
entage, and  of  mixed  race  ;  but  the  dominant  strain  in  their 
blood  was  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Irish,  the  Scotch-Irish  as 
they  ai-e  often  called.  Full  credit  has  been  awarded  the  Round- 
head and  the  Cavalier  for  their  leadership  in  our  history  ;  nor 
have  we  been  altogether  blind  to  the  deeds  of  the  Hollander 
and  Huguenot ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  we  have  fully  realized  the 
importance  of  the  part  played  by  that  stern  and  virile  people 
— the  Irish,  whose  preachers  taught  the  creed  of  Knox  and 
Calvin.  These  Irish  representatives  of  the  Covenanters  were 
in  the  West  almost  what  the  Puritans  were  in  the  Northeast, 
and  more  than  the  Cavaliers  were  in  the  South.  Mingled  with 
the  descendants  of  many  other  races,  they  nevertheless  formed 
the  kernel  of  the  distinctively  and  intensely  American  stock 
who  were  the  pioneers  of  our  people  on  their  march  westward, 
the  vanguards  of  the  army  of  fighting  settlers  who,  with  ax 
and  rifle,  won  their  way  from  the  Alleghenies  to  the  Rio 
Grande  and  the  Pacific. 

"The  Presbyterian  Irish  were  themselves  already  a  mixed 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  115 

people.  Though  mainly  descended  from  Scotch  ancestors — 
who  came  originally  from  both  lowlands  and  highlands,  from 
both  the  Scotch  Saxons  and  Scotch  Celts — many  of  them  were 
of  English,  a  few  of  French  Huguenot,  and  quite  a  number  of 
pure  old  Milesian  Irish  extraction  ;  they  were  the  Protestants 
of  the  Protestants.  *****         [Page  106.] 

"That  these  Irish  Presbyterians  were  a  bold  and  hardy 
race,  is  proved  by  them  at  once  pushing  past  the  settled  regions 
and  plunging  into  the  wilderness  as  the  leaders  of  the  white 
advance.  They  were  the  first  and  last  set  of  immigrants  to  do 
this  ;  all  others  have  merely  followed  in  the  wake  of  their 
predecessors.  But,  indeed,  they  were  fitted  to  be  Americans 
from  the  very  start ;  they  were  kinsfolk  of  the  Covenanters  ; 
they  deemed  it  a  religious  duty  to  interpret  their  own  Bible, 
and  held  for  a  divine  right  the  election  of  their  own  clergy. 
For  generations  their  whole  ecclesiastic  and  scholastic  systems 
had  been  fundamentally  democratic.  In  the  hard  life  of  the 
frontier  they  lost  much  of  their  religion,  and  they  had  but 
scant  opportunity  to  give  their  children  the  schooling  in  which 
they  believed  ;  but  what  few  meeting-houses  and  school-houses 
there  were  on  the  border  were  theirs." 

Such  is  the  impulse  to  which  we  have  to  look  for  the 
actual  building  of  Miami  University.  Its  foundation  was  laid 
in  an  earlier  day,  by  a  different  element  in  the  population.  It 
has  been  sufficiently  brought  out  that  the  Revolution  was 
waged  by  the  Calvinistic  element  in  our  people,  the  Congre- 
gationalists  of  New  England,  the  Dutch  Reformed  of  New 
York,  the  Baptists  of  Rhode  Island  and  Virginia,  the  Hugue- 
nots of  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  the  Low  Church  Episco- 
palians of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  the  Presbyterians  of  the 
whole  land — notably  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Southern  colon- 
ies. These  were  the  sons  of  Calvinistic  schools  of  Harvard 
Yale  and  Princeton.  They  knew  what  Christian  education 
was,  and  they  meant  to  fix  it  as  the  basis  of  this  nation's 
growth.  So  when,  in  1787,  the  Ohio  Company  and  John 
Cleves  Symmes  applied  to  the  Congress  of  the.  old  confeder- 
ation for  grants  of  land  for  settlement  in  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory, then  just  organized,  each  grant  was  conditioned  upon 


116  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

the  setting  aside  of  one  township  of  land  for  the  purposes  of 
education. 

The  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  Territory,  adopted 
July  13th,  1787,  provided  that  (Article  III.)  :  "Religion, 
morality  and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good  government 
and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  edu- 
cation shall  forever  be  encouraged."  Such  phrases,  when  in- 
serted in  our  modern  ordinances  of  government,  are  ordinarily 
taken  to  be  mere  fine  phrases,  but  it  was  different  in  those 
days. 

The  townships  provided  for  were  eventually  set  aside,  and 
the  one  became  the  endowment  of  the  Ohio  University  at 
Athens,  the  other  of  Miami  University  at  Oxford. 

Miami's  trials  began  early.  Symmes,  by  a  series  of  mis- 
fortunes, became  bankrupt,  and  his  property  got  into  such  a 
condition  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  secure  any  one  town- 
ship free  from  some  other  claim.  Time  passed  and  the  diffi- 
culties only  thickened,  till  at  last  a  township  vv^as  granted  by 
the  Government  outside  the  Symmes  purchase  and  beyond  the 
great  Miami  River.  So  it  came  about  that  Miami's  first  mis- 
fortune crystallized  into  a  banishment  beyond  the  borders  of 
Hamilton  county,  and  from  the  original  seat  selected  for  it — . 
Green  Township. 

The  University  was  finally  incorporated  in  1809,  and  in 
1816  a  school  was  opened,  but  only  in  1824  that  school  which 
was  the  fulfillment  of  the  first  plan,  and  which  is  the  same 
with  that  we  have  to-day.  Meanwhile,  the  crowning  mistake 
had  been  made  ;  the  mistake  of  the  earlier  years  led  to  the 
selection  of  a  site  somewhat  inconvenient,  indeed,  but  of 
singular  beauty  and  healthfulness,  and  perhaps  in  some  ways 
more  desirable  than  one  nearer  Cincinnati  would  be.  But  the 
mistake  which  was  now  made  has  ever  since  conditioned  the 
growth  of  the  University,  and  practically  robbed  it  of  the 
splendid  domain  granted  by  the  national  Government.  The 
land  was  originally  intended  to  be  leased  on  long  leases,  the 
rent  to  be  fixed  by  assessments  of  the  value  of  the  land  at  in- 
tervals of  fifteen  years.  The  first  leases  were  made  in  this 
way,  then   the  Legislature  repealed  the  "fifteen-year  reassess- 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  117 

ment  clause."  Thus  the  University  had  its  birthright  sold  for 
a  mess  of  pottage.  Money  was  secured  to  erect  the  buildings, 
but  instead  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year,  the  Uni- 
versity still  dravi's,  and  must  ever  continue  to  draw^,  from  its 
lands,  a  pitiful  rental  of  about  six  thousand  dollars. 

With  such  small  resources  the  trustees  determined  to  open 
the  institution  in  1824,  and  invited  Prof.  Robert  H.  Bishop, 
D.  D.,  then  a  professor  in  Transylvania  University,  to  become 
the  first  president.  Professor  Bishop  w^as  then  engaged  in 
vv^hat  seemed  a  hopeless  struggle  for  Christian  influences  in 
Kentucky's  old  university.  Founded  in  pursuance  of  a  grant 
made  by  Virginia  in  1780,  Transylvania  Academy  had  flour- 
ished and  grown  under  Presbyterian  influences,  and  had  be- 
come a  powerful  factor  in  Western  life,  but  in  1818-19  a  Legis- 
lature, which  was  laboring  under  the  impulse  of  the  tail  end 
of  English  eighteenth  century  deism,  turned  all  Christian  men 
out  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  replaced  them  by  atheists, 
deists  and  Unitarians.  Horace  Holley,  an  advanced  and  elo- 
quent Unitarian  from  Boston,  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  the  whole  atmosphere  was  made  as  evil  as  possible. 
The  Presbyterians  at  once  set  on  foot  a  plan  for  a  nev\^  college, 
and  in  1819  got  the  first  charter  for  Centre  College.  Professor 
Bishop  and  a  few  sturdy  men  kept  up  the  contest  for  Christian 
education  in  the  old  seat.  Yet  the  call  to  Miami  was  a  natural 
relief,  which  enabled  him  to  change  his  position  without 
abandoning  the  struggle  for  Christian  teaching.  Then  the 
country  around  was  but  newly  opened  ;  the  population  was 
small  and  scattered  ;  the  roads  were  few  and  badly  improved  ; 
the  lands  but  partially  cultivated.  It  was  new  countr}^,  still 
inhabited  by  the  original  settlers  who  had  wrested  it  from  the 
wild  beasts  and  still  fiercer  Indian. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  1825,  the  formal  induction  took 
place.  There  was  a  great  crowd  at  the  inauguration,  people 
coming  from  all  the  country  around  for  six  or  eight  miles.  The 
yard  was  full  of  men,  women  and  children.  It  wag  a  beautiful 
day  in  early  spring.  There  was  a  procession  headed  by  a  band 
of  music — a  big  drum  and  a  little  drum,  two  or  three  fifes,  a 
fiddle  or  two,  a  flageolet,  and  perhaps  a  brass  horn.     As  they 


118  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

passed  through  the  yard — among  the  stumps — and  around  the 
big  building,  all  were  joyous  and  glad. 

Robert  H.  Bishop,  who  was  then  inaugurated,  was  a  model 
president.  Honest  and  sound  in  his  doctrinal  teaching,  learned 
and  able  in  his  instruction  both  in  the  class-room  and  pulpit, 
wise  and  loving  in  his  government  and  discipline,  he  made  the 
institution  a  success  from  the  beginning.  No  greater  evidence 
can  I  give  of  his  far-seeing  intelligence  than  the  following 
words  from  the  inaugural  address  delivered  on  that  occasion  : 

"We  are  a  part  of  this  mighty  nation.  This  institution 
w^hich  we  are  now  organizing  is  one  of  the  outposts  of  her 
extended  and  extending  possessions.  Only  a  generation  hence, 
and  what  is  now  an  outpost  will  be  the  center.  *  *  Other 
sixty  years  hence,  and  the  population  will,  in  all  probability, 
be  extended  to  the  Pacific  Ocean." 

He  loved  and  watched  over  the  students,  and  in  return  had 
their  love  and  respect.  He  labored  constantly  for  the  good  of 
the  college  and  of  the  community,  and  in  return  he  had  ever 
the  confidence  and  aff'ection  of  all  who  had  the  interests  of 
this  institution  at  heart.  He  always  advocated,  and  illustrated 
by  his  life,  the  cause  of  morality,  education  and  religion,  and 
his  name  and  character  became  known  and  revered  everywhere. 
Such  was  the  commencement  of  Miami  University,  and  the 
character  of  the  first  presidency  in  its  history. 

President  Bishop  continued  to  preside  over  the  institution 
down  to  1841,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  George  Junkin,  D. 
D.  who  only  remained  three  years.  These  twenty  years  mark 
the  period  of  planting  and  a  brief  reaction  against  the  brave 
and  spirited  Christian  attitude  of  President  Bishop,  whose 
position  on  the  slavery  question  especially  was  too  radical 
for  the  time  and  community.  President  Junkin  was  brought 
to  Miami  under  a  misconception  of  the  situation,  and  retired 
as  soon  and  as  gracefully  as  was  possible. 

During  these  twenty  years  (1824-1844)  were  graduated 
373  students,  a  great  number,  considering  the  state  of  the 
country,  and  a  body  conspicuous  for  their  influence  on  their 
generation.  Let  me  but  name  a  few  of  them.  The  first  class, 
that  of  1826,  contained  twelve  members,  ten  of  whom  entered 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  119 

the  ministry,  the  Hon.  Wm.  M.  Corry  being  one  of  the  two 
remaining.  The  second  class  contained  Hon.  John  W 
Caldwell  and ,  General  Robert  C  Schenck  ;  the  third,  Rev. 
Dr.  William  M.  Thompson  ;  the  fourth,  Governor  Ralph  P. 
Lowe,  of  Iowa  ;  then  come  Governors  Anderson,  Dennison 
and  Hardin  ;  Senators  Pugh  and  Williams  ;  Judges  Burnett, 
Chauncey  Olds,  W.  H.  Groesbeck,  George  M.  Parsons  and 
Samuel  Shellabarger  ;  Drs.  Chidlaw,  Monfort,  Thomas  and  a 
host  of  others,  too  many  to  mention,  too  noble  not  to  mention. 
What  was  the  pabulum  these  men  were  fed  on?  Dr. 
Chidlaw  told  me  recently  that  he  lived  on  corn  meal  mush  and 
molasses,  at  an  expense  of  thirty-nine  cents  per  week,  for  a 
long  period.  It  wasn't  that  which  made  them  strong  men.  I 
saw  one  of  the  earliest  reports  of  college  work  recently,  in 
which  some  of  the  boys  w^ere  cominended  for  having  never 
missed  a  college  exercise.  A  few  were  marked  w^ith  asterisks, 
which  indicated  that  while  they  had  missed  a  few,  they  were 
due  to  unavoidable  high  water  in  the  creek.  My  great-grand- 
mother Breckenridge  used  to  say  :  "Yes,  child,  if  nothing 
happens  and  the  creek  don't  rise."  What  a  simple  life  that 
old  college  life  was,  where  boys  were  content  with  simple  fare 
and  only  missed  chapel  when  the  creek  was  high  !  They  had 
no  courses  of  two  and  a  half  pages,  with  a  whole  host  of 
elective  branches,  such  as  figure  in  our  present  catalogue. 
Three  professors  covered  the  whole  course  at  first.  Not  till 
1841  was  the  total  raised  to  five.  They  were  great,  strong  men. 
Dr.  Bishop  taught  philosophy  and  history,  and  it  was  no  harm 
to  the  boys  that  he  taught  more  theology  and  Presbyterianism 
than  psychology  and  constitutional  growth.  Dr.  McGuffey 
taught  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew  from  a  totally  false  point  of 
view,  w^e  are  told  to-day,  but  it  had  no  end  of  discipline  in  it. 
Dr.  John  W.  Scott  taught  mathematics  so  as  to  win  the  love  of 
his  pupils,  which  he  retains  in  his  ripe  old  age.  These  things 
are  not  put  in  modern  college  prospectuses,  but  they  go  to  the 
root  of  the  matter.  We  find  few  great  scholars  as  a  product 
of  this  time,  but  how  many  men  of  might,  soldiers,  statesmen, 
jurists,  divines.  None  of  them  but  had  more  or  less  of  a 
struggle    to  "get  through  college,"  none  of  them  but  came  out 


120  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

with  the  seal  of  Dr.  Bishop's  grand  old  Presbyterian  character 
stamped  on  them. 

As  far  as  the  mechanical  appliances  of  teaching  goes,  the 
institution  during  all  this  time  was  utterly  destitute.  There 
were  no  laboratories,  no  apparatus,  no  graphic  methods, 
scarcely  any  books.  But  there  was  something  far  better — an 
indomitable  spirit,  alike  in  students  and  teachers  ;  an  earnest 
purpose,  a  real  desire  for  education. 

There  are  two  ways  of  treating  an  occasion  of  this  sort ; 
one,  in  accord  with  the  so-called  scientific  spirit  of  the  age, 
would  lay  the  institutions  of  the  past  on  the  dissecting-table, 
and  proceed  w^ith  scalpel  in  hand  to  expose  their  anatomy,  to 
the  end  of  blessing  the  fate  which  has  permitted  the  present 
to  be  otherwise.  The  other  is  to  bless  God  for  the  brave  men 
of  old-time  who  built  a  nation  in  the  wilderness.  Let  me  ask 
you  to  follow  the  latter  course,  and  to  thank  God  for  the  ex- 
ample of  the  founders  and  master-builders  of  Miami  Univer- 
sity, and  to  pray  Him  that  he  will  establish  their  work  in  us 
who  are  entered  into  their  labors. 


CHRISTIAN  NURTURE  IN  PRESBYTERIAN 
FAMILIES  FIFTY  YEARS  AGO. 


C.  F.  MussEY,  D.  D. 


What  I  have  to  say  will  apply  according  to  all  testimony, 
to  a  hundred  years  ago  as  well  as  to  fifty,  but  the  term  of  fifty 
years  was  adopted  the  better  to  convince  those  under  thirty 
that  what  is  said,  is  vouched  for  by  w^itnesses  alive  both  then 
and  now. 

Our  fathers  of  fifty  years  ago  had  some  ideas  which  in- 
fluenced them  in  the  education  of  their  children.  Some  of 
these  were  the  result  of  their  own  thinking,  but  more  of  them 
were  of  earlier  origin.  Some  of  them  were  perhaps  original, 
but  the  more  fundamental  of  them  came  both  by  tradition,  and 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  121 

by  written  and  athentic  history.  One  of  these  they  found  in 
the  127th  Ps.  3d  vs.  ;  it  reads  :  "Lo  children  are  a  heritage  of 
the  Lord."  This  thought  was  probably  penned  twenty-eight 
hundred  years  before  their  time  ;  they  put  seasoned  timber  into 
their  work.  Being  thrifty  they  wished  to  improve  their 
heritage,  so  they  went  to  work  to  educate  their  children.  They 
did  not  despise  education  in  secular  things,  they  believed  the 
children  thus  educated,  even  if  not  converted,  were  more  likely 
to  keep  out  of  mischief,  and  make  good  citizens  than  if  they 
had  comparatively  good  but  empty  minds.  But  they  made  it 
their  individual  and  special  work  to  train  their  children  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  They  found  the  divine  injunction  of  more 
than  three  thousand  years'  standing  which  reads  :  "And  these 
words,  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be  in  thine  heart ; 
and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and 
shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house  and  when 
thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  best  down  and  when 
thou  risest  up."  [Deut.  6.  6-7]  Thus,  and  through  experience, 
they  learned  the  duty  of  perpetual  vigilance  and  care  in  train- 
ing their  children.  Believing  the  Bible  to  be  the  word  of  God, 
and  the  shorter  Catechism  a  useful  compendium  of  the  saving 
doctrines  of  Scripture,  they  set  apart  a  special  time  for  instruc- 
tion in  them.  It  was  customary  to  devote  a  portion  of  every 
Sabbath  evening  to  catechising  the  children,  for  which  exercise 
they  prepared  by  a  more  private  instruction  in  the  Catechism. 
When  the  ^time  came  on  the  Sabbath  for  the  weekly  cateche- 
tical exercise  the  parents  began  with  the  eldest,  or  the  young- 
est, as  the  case  might  be,  and  each  child  must  repeat  what  each 
one  said,  and  when  all  of  the  children  had  learned  the  whole 
catechism,  it  was  recited  every  Sabbath  by  each  child  separ- 
ately, or  by  the  children  answering  the  questions  in  rotation. 
In  some  faniilies  it  was  customary  for  the  parents  and  other 
adult  members  of  the  household  to  take  part  in  the  exercise, 
and  take  their  turn  in  answering  questions.  Thus  the  family 
became  a  class,  in  which  different  ones  at  different  times  be- 
came the  teacher,  to  ask  the  questions,  that  none  might  be 
omitted. 

I  remember  visiting  a  delightful  christian  family  in  which 


122  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

it  was  the  custom  at  family  worship  on  Sabbath  evening  to 
repeat  the  ten  commandments  in  rotation,  beginning  with  one 
member  of  the  family  on  one  Sabbath  evening  and  with 
another  member  the  next  Sabbath,  in  order  that  in  due  course 
each  one  should  repeat  all  of  them.  Any  stranger  present 
were  invited  to  participate  in  the  exercise  with  the  members  of 
the  family.  After  repeating  the  commandments,  one  of  the 
children  repeated  a  hymn  which  he.  or  she  had  learned  during 
the  week. 

In  another  family  in  which  I  once  visited,  the  father  called 
upon  one  of  his  children  to  read  a  hymn  before  singing  it  at 
family  prayer.  He  had  taught  his  children  to  read  so  as 
naturally  to  express  the  varied  sentiment  of  that  which  they 
read  ;  and  though  he  was  not  a  liberally  educated  man,  but  a 
merchant,  he  had  made  the  best  readers  of  hymns  whom  it  has 
been  my  fortune  to  hear,  in  the  pulpit  or  out  of  it ;  a  wonder- 
ful contrast  to  the  humdrum  or  mouthing  which  some  make  in 
reading  poetry.  In  some  families  a  part  of  the  religious  edu- 
cation and  enjoyment  was  in  singing  hymns,  which-  was  in 
spiriting  and  elevating  to  the  participants,  not  always  according 
to  the  artistic  culture  of  which  it  gave  evidence,  but  according 
to  the  heartiness  of  their  endeavor  to  express  the  sentiments  of 
the  hymns  in  song. 

In  another  christian  family  which  I  could  name  a  type 
possibly  of  many  families  ;  the  mother  would  take  two  or 
three  of  her  small  children  into  her  room  on  a  Sabbath  after- 
noon and  tell  them  stories  of  Bible  characters,  and  answer 
their  eager  questions,  and  open  to  them  the  way  of  salvation 
according  to  her  own  sweet  methods,  and  then  pray  with  and 
for  them.  Those  occasions  were  looked  forward  to  with 
longing  and  are  look  back  upon  with  a  hallowed  joy.  That 
room  to  some  of  her  children  was  the  veritable  house  of  God 
and  the  gate  of  heaven.  There  was  learned  the  glory  and 
blessing  of  a  godly  maternity.  There  were  spun  those  cords 
of  affection  from  the  subtle  filaments  of  a  human  and  divine 
love  which  she  threw  around  the  hearts  of  her  children,  so 
many  and  so  strong,  that  time  has  not  weakened  them,  and  we 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL,  123 

believe  eternity  can  not  break  them  ;  and  so  close  that  she  ever 
bears  them  on  her  heart  before  the  throne  of  God. 

Our    christian   fathers  believed   in   having   their   children 
habitually  attend  church.     They  did  not  send   them  by  them- 
selves, or   in    the    care   of  attendants,   or    in    the    company    of 
neighbors'  children.     They  took   their  children   to  church.     I 
do  not  mean  that  there  were  no  exceptions  to  their  attendance. 
Our  fathers  tried  to  be  reasonable  and   christian   in   their   self 
discipline  and  in  training  their  children.     They  yielded  to  im- 
perative and   exceptional  circumstances.      Special  needs  called 
for   special  action.      It   would  not   be   true   to   say   they   were 
never  absent  from  the  house  of  God.     It  is  true  that  they  were 
rarely  absent,  and  as  rarely  were  their  children  absent.     Their 
consciences   would  not  allow  them  to  make  trivial  excuses  for 
staying  at  home,  or  accept  them  from   their  children.      It  was 
part  of  their  faith  to  rear  their  children  for  the  service   of  the 
Lord,  and   to  do   so  they  believed  attendance  in  the  sanctuary 
was  one  of  the  most  natural   and   appropriate   means.     If  the 
children  were  ever  reluctant   to  go  and  tried  to  excuse  them- 
selves, these  fathers  had  very  persuasive   ways   and  generally 
accomplished   their  purpose.     They   took  their  children  with 
them  to  church.      Sometimes   the   children   were   drowsy,  and 
the  father  or  mother  would  bring  them  to  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility by  standing  them  on  their  feet  in  the  pew.      Sometimes 
the  younger  ones  would  fall  asleep  and  have  a  sweet  rest  laying 
the  head   upon  the  mother's  lap  ;  but  no  one  thought  it  would 
have  been  better  to  keep  the  children  at  home.    No  one  thought 
that  the   child  should  be  interested  in  or  even  understand  the 
whole  sermon.     No  one  thought  that  because  a  child  could  not 
understand  everything,  it  could  not   understand   nothing,  and 
could  carry  nothing  away.     The  children  always  carried  some- 
thing away  ;   for  they  expected  to  be  asked  at  home  what  they 
remembered  of  the  sermon,  and   it  was  often    surprising   how 
much   they  remembered.      As   a   general  thing  our  fathers  did 
not  adopt  any  such  a   theory  of  preaching  as   that  the  word 
should  be  made  plain  to  the  feeblest  capacity  ;   they  rather  de- 
lighted in  that  preaching  that  was  directed  to  alive  and  vigor- 
ous   adult    minds  ;    and   if   their  children    heard   some   things 


124  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

which  they  did  not  understand,  they  explained  it  and  broke  it 
up  into"feuch  parcels  of  truth  as  were  adapted  to  their  com- 
prehension, as  a  hen  breaks  the  whole  corn  into  bits  for  her 
brood.  It  is  my  deliberate  opinion  that  the  average  child  of 
that  day  gathered  more  knowledge  from  good  Presbyterian 
preaching  than  the  average  child  of  to-day  gains  in  the  Sab- 
bath School.  The  theological  and  practical  questions  which 
interested  people  of  that  day  were  lodged  in  my  own  mind 
from  preaching  and  discussion  heard  before  I  was  seven  years 
old,  and  the  attempted  solution  of  theological  problems  at  that 
age  influenced  later  thought.  I  have  the  greatest  respect  for 
the  intelligent  questionings  of  children's  minds.  Our  fathers 
went  to  church  and  took  their  children  without  any  fear  that 
they  would  be  worn  out,  or  that  their  youth  would  be  blighted 
by  being  quiet  in  the  house  ot  God  for  an  hour,  or  even  for  two 
hours  of  the  service  of  that  day. 

Of  course  they  honored  and  inculcated  respect  for  the 
Sabbath  as  God's  day  for  the  benefit  of  men,  as  a  day  sacred 
to  rest  and  to  worship.  If  I  mistake  not  if  they  can  see  the 
changed  estimate  and  treatment  of  the  Sabbath  by  their  de- 
scendents,  they  are  more  surprised  than  by  almost  any  moral 
aspects  of  these  times. 

Our  fathers  taught  good  manners  to  their  children.  These 
were  not  the  manners  of  Lord  Chesterfield,  or  Beau  Brummel, 
or  Count  d'Orsay,  but  such  as  they  had  learned  from  Scripture 
and  from  common  sense.  They  taught  children  to  keep  silence 
in  promiscuous  company  till  spoken  to,  rebuking  forwardness 
and  pertness  of  speech  in  engrossing  the  conversation.  They 
taught  respect  for  men  holding  ofiicial  station  ;  deference  for 
those  older  than  yourself;  especial  regard  for  those  who  have 
entered  or  are  verging  upon  old  age  ;  courteous  speech  toward 
all  men,  and  a  genei^al  helpfulness  toward  all  in  any  kind  of 
need.  They  taught  the  politeness  of  the  heart.  Fifty  years 
ago  an  elderly  man  or  woman  could  hardly  enter  any  place, 
public  or  private,  where  seats  were  full  without  experiencing 
the  regard  of  younger  people  toward  their  elders  in  the  offer 
of  seats.  I  have  been  in  a  great  number  of  crowded  convey- 
ances and  in  numerous  large  assemblies   within   the   past  few 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  125 

years.  I  should  dislike  to  tell  what  I  have  noticed  concerning 
the  absence  of  common  politeness.  I  will  speak  of  my  sur- 
prises. One  was  to  see  a  nicely  .dressed  young  lady  in  a 
crowded  car  arise  <and  give  her  seat  to  an  elderly  woman  of 
respectable  but  inelegant  garb.  My  heart  warmed  toward  that 
girl  at  once,  and  I  mentally  said  "  God  bless  her."  Another 
surprise  was  to  have  a  man  past  middle  life  offer  me  his  seat 
in  a  car,  taking  me  for  an  older  man  than  himself;  of  course 
this  smote  my  youthful  self-complacency,  but  gave  ine  a  great 
respect  for  his  parents  who  had  taught  him  so  well.  The  third 
surprise  was  the  other  day  in  St.  Louis  in  coming  out  from  a 
hotel  to  find  a  little  more  air  on  the  piazza,  a  young  man 
jumped  up  and  offered,  me  his  seat,  and  no  persuasion  could 
induce  him  to  resume  it  until  I  had  found  another  vacant  chair 
and  sat  down  with  him.  We  spent  fifteen  pleasant  minutes.' 
He  was  from  Mississippi — a  young  merchant.  And  I  mentally 
said  :  We  are  brothers  ;  the  blue  and  the  gray  meet  together  ; 
the  Lord  is  the  Maker  of  us  all. 

To  have  neglected  to  offer  a  seat  or  show  a  deferential 
respect  to  an  elderly  person  fifty  years  ago  would  have  been  a 
great  breach  of  social  propriety,  and  would  have  marked  a 
young  person  as  one  to  be  reproved  or  avoided. 

Our  fathers  believed  in  the  rod  as  a  potent  auxiliary  of 
christian  nurture.  Of  course  there  were  exceptions.  I  knew  a 
man  who  rejected  the  rod,  but  corrected  his  children  with  his 
tongue,  The  sharp  and  tedious  capabilities  of  that  tongue 
were  amazing.  Most  children  would  have  preferred  the  rod, 
and  most  parents  preferred  it.  While  it  was  not  exactly  a  part 
of  their  theology,  it  was  a  faithful  body-servant  of  theology. 
They  believed  in  total  depravity  as  fundamental  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  natural  boy,  and  seemed  to  regard  it  as  extensive 
and  located  under  the  cuticle.  They  frequently  laid  bare  our 
characters  and  scarified  them  to  let  out  the  bad  blood.  We 
often  thought  there  was  a  more  excellent  way,  but  our  fathers 
were  not  easily  persuaded.  W^e  thought  that  the  parental  law 
and  discipline  aroused  unfilial  feelings  and  "  worked  wrath," 
but  were  assured  that  "the  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring 
us  to  Christ."     We  have  the  testimony  of  a  small  boy,  reared 


126  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

in  a  family  of  the  older  school,  to  the  corrective  and  quieting 
power  of  the  rod,  who  after  castigation  for  misdemeanors  gave 
his  philosophy  of  its  effects  in  these  words  ;  "I  tell  you,  a 
good  whipping  once  in  a  while  settles  a  fellow."  So  we 
learned  to  acquiesce  in  the  corrections  ;  then  to  honor  the  good 
intent  of  their  administration,  and  finally  to  conclude  that  our 
fathers  perhaps  knew  as  well  as  we  what  was  for  our  ultimate 
good. 

Our  christian  fathers  believed  in  family  worship.  They 
believed  in  it  as  a  duty  toward  God.  They  believed  in  it  as  an 
aid  in  family  government ;  as  an  educational  influence  in  the 
household  ;  as  a  means  of  daily  testimony  to  their  faith.  So 
the  family  altar  was  almost  as  sacred  to  them  as  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  was  to  the  ancient  Hebrew  ;  and  they  daily  gathered 
their  families  around  it  and  tha,nked  God  for  the  daily  mercies 
and  prayed  Him  to  supply  the  daily  wants. 

They  believed  also  in  regeneration  of  the  soul  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  Just  how  He  wrought  upon  the  soul  to  change 
it,  they  left  among  the  unfathomed  divine  mysteries  ;  but  as 
far  as  related  to  human  experience  they  had  definite  views. 
Regeneration  to  them  changed  the  will  and  the  affections  of 
the  soul  so  that  the  ruling  purpose  and  the  prevailing  love  of 
the  soul  were  toward  God,  and  holy  beings  and  good  things, 
rather  than  toward  the  world,  and  estranged  from  God.  They 
did  not  think  regeneration  could  be  effected  by  education  or 
association  with  christian  society,  or  an)^  otherwise  than  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  ;  but  they  educated  their  children  with  reference 
to  the  spiritual  consummation.  They  taught  the  taith  as  an  in- 
tellectual basis  of  character  which  the  Spirit  of  God  should 
make  alive  when  He  should  renew  them  in  knowledge  after 
the  divine  image.  So  they  tried  to  make  their  children's  in- 
tellectual faith  a  preparation  for  the  spiritual  life  for  which 
they  longed  and  prayed.  And  when  their  children  were  con- 
verted, they  did  not  think  all  was  done,  but  strove  to  continue 
their  education  and  to  introduce  them  to  a  generous  spiritual 
culture,  that  they  might  be  useful  members  and  ornaments  of 
the  household  of  faith  till  we  all  come  to  a  perfect  manhood, 
to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ. 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  OF  HIGHER 
CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION. 


By  Rev.  D.  W.  Fisher,  D.  D.  LL.  D. 
President  of  Hanover   College. 


In  all  of  this  vast  region,  known  broadly  as  the  Ohio 
Valley,  the  higher  education  has  hitherto  been  very  largely 
Christian.  I  might  go  still  farther  and  say  that  it  has  been 
in  great  part  denominational,  in  the  sense  that  the  majority  of 
the  institutions  of  learning  above  the  rank  of  the  High  School 
have  been  directly  or  indirectly  under  the  control  of  the  re- 
spective bodies  into  which  the  Church  is  divided.  In  this 
peculiar  work  the  Presbyterians  as  such  have  performed  an 
honorable  part.  But  for  our  present  purpose  let  us  be  content 
to  observe  that  the  higher  education  in  this  region  has  been 
largely  Christian.  By  this  I  mean  more  than  can  easily  be  put 
into  words.  For  instance,  these  advanced  schools  have  as  a 
rule  been  planted  and  fostered  by  the  church  as  a  church,  or  by 
Christian  men  and  women  because  they  were  Christians.  They 
have  been  controlled  and  conducted  by  Boards  of  management 
and  by  Faculties,  among  whom  it  has  been  a  rare  thing  to  find 
one  whose  piety  was  not  only  professed,  but  also  generally 
conceded  ;  and  they  would  have  thought  their  efforts  to  be  a 
failure  in  a  very  large  degree,  if  the  students  did  not  carry  out 
with  them  into  the  world  the  impress  of  the  gospel.  More 
than  this,  there  has  been  in  these  institutions  an  avowed, 
constant  and  positive  effort  to  win  to  Christ  all  who  have 
entered  for  instruction. 

What  have  been  the  results  ?  Let  us  not  imagine  that  these 
consist  chiefly  in  securing  to  the  Church  an  educated  ministry. 
The  State  of  Ohio  for  fifty  years  or  more  of  her  history,  that 
is,  down  to  the  recent  rapid  growth  of  her  towns  and  cities, 
and   the   influx   of  another   sort  of  population,  was   generally 


128  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

recognized  throughout  the  entire  country  as  remarkable  for  the 
intelligence  and  the  moral  worth  of  her  inhabitants.  No  doubt 
this  character  was  largely  attributable  to  the  kind  of  people 
by  whom  she  was  settled.  But  I  am  sure  that  the  Christian 
college  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  it.  Some  of  the  early 
settlers  had  come  to  "the  West"  from  such  institutions,  and  a 
great  many  more  had  caught  the  spirit  which  finds  expression 
in  them.  As  a  consequence  they  were  not  content  until  in 
each  locality,  near  enough  to  be  accessible  without  a  long 
journey,  they  had  started  into  life  one  of  these  institutions  of 
learning,  and  had  placed  it  directly  under  positive  Christian 
control.  Out  of  these  have  come  the  voices  of  the  ministry 
and  of  the  educated  men  in  general,  a  very  large  part  of  the 
most  influential  men  in  the  laity  of  the  churches,  and  also  of 
the  lawyers,  physicians,  teachers  and  other  intelligent  leaders 
in  society.  Together  they  combined  to  give  to  this  State  a 
type  of  American  civilization,  which  commanded  wide-spread 
attention  and  almost  universal  admiration,  and  which  remains 
still  as  the  best  element  of  the  existing  condition  of  affairs,  in 
spite  of  that  tide  of  secularization  which  has  swept  in  here  in 
such  tremendous  proportions. 

What  of  the  future  as  to  the  higher  Christian  education? 
We  have  been  with  great  propriety  turning  our  faces  to  the 
past,  and  indulging  in  "  history,"  "  reminiscences,"  "  personal 
recollections,"  "noteworthy  incidents,"  "memories  of  men." 
The  past  is  secure,  we  cannot  lose  it.  There  is,  however,  a 
future  that  is  yet  to  be  won,  and  for  us  merely  to  honor  the 
work  that  has  been  done  and  the  men  and  women  by  whom  it 
has  been  done,  would  be  to  show  ourselves  unworthy  of  the 
inheritance  which  has  been  bequeathed  to  us. 

The  future  of  theological  seminaries  I  will  not  undertake 
to  consider  at  any  length.  By  their  very  nature  they  are  neces- 
sarily Christian,  and  perhaps  denominational.  Change  within 
them  must  limit  itself  to  such  matters  as  terms  of  admission, 
types  of  doctrine,  and  modes  of  instruction.  Perhaps  the 
question  which  as  to  them  needs  to  be  most  anxiously  con- 
sidered relates  to  a  steady  and  adequate  supply  of  properly 
qualified  students  who  shall  come  to  them  for  instruction. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  129 

Let  US  confine  our  attention  to  the  future  of  Christian  edu- 
cation in  our  colleges.  But  before  we  proceed  to  this,  let  us 
widen  our  conception  sufficiently  to  take  in  the  entire  work  of 
these  institutions.  Let  us  not  forget  that  in  the  Ohio  Valley 
in  a  large  majority  of  them  the  young  woman  is  now  admitted 
on  a  perfect  equality  with  the  young  man.  There  is  scarcely  a 
State  university  which  is  not  conducted  on  the  principle  of  the 
co-education  of  the  sexes.  Whether  this  system  will  ultimately 
prevail  still  more  widely,  or  whether  we  shall  have  the  '-'An- 
nex," or  colleges  of  the  highest  grade  for  women  alone,  or 
whether  all  of  these  systems  shall  be  perpetviated  side  by  side, 
we  do  not  know  ;  and  this  is  not  a  place  suitable  for  debate 
on  the  merits  of  the  contending  systems.  It  is  enough  for  us 
to  open  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  our  young  women  as  well  as 
our  young  men  are  now  in  the  colleges,  and  are  each  year 
flocking  to  them  in  increasing  numbei's. 

The  question  as  to  the  future  of  the  higher  Christian  edu- 
cation is  not  whether  the  college  shall  be  denominational  or 
undenominational.  Princeton  claims  to  be  undenominational  ; 
Wooster  is  controlled  by  the  Synod  of  Ohio  ;  and  both  are 
Christian.  I  do  not  discover  anything  as  to  which  it  would  be 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  either  to  change  their  ecclesiastical 
relations.  Shut  out  bigotry,  sectarianism,  proselytism  and 
narrowness  of  every  sort,  as  all  colleges  of  any  standing  now 
do,  and  the  matter  of  denominationalism  can  safely  be  left  to 
circumstances. 

Nor  is  the  main  question,  whether  we  can  perpetuate  the 
Christian  college  exactly  after  the  fashion  of  the  earlier  part 
of  this  century.  This,  except  as  to  the  spirit  and  the  broad 
outlines,  we  cannot  do.  If  I  were  to  undertake  to  administer 
Hanover  College  as  to  its  courses  of  study,  its  methods  of  in- 
struction or  discipline  just  as  it  was  by  President  Blythe  or 
McMasters,  or  Thomas,  I  would  fail  not  only  miserably  but 
justly.  Change  of  circumstances  demand  change  of  methods. 
Much  that  may  have  been  the  best  possible  in  a  college  a  half 
century  ago  or  less,  now  would  be  thoroughly  out  of  place  and 
injurious.  Call  the  change  progress  or  not  as  you  please,  yet 
let  us  recognize  its  necessity. 


130  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

As  to  the  place  which  Christianity  occupies  in  them  we 
may  divide  the  colleges  of  the  United  States  at  present  into 
three  classes.  One  consists  of  those  in  which,  as  an  avowed 
part  of  the  work  to  be  done,  the  college  as  such  seeks  to  im- 
press the  religion  of  the  Bible  on  the  souls  of  the  students. 
Another  class  is  composed  of  institutions  like  Harvard  and 
Cornell,  where  the  inculcation  of  the  gospel  is  assumed  to  be 
no  part  of  the  direct  work  of  the  college,  but  where  as  a  sort 
of  optional  arrangement  the  way  is  opened  for  the  churches  to 
come  in  and  accomplish  all  they  can  among  the  students.  The 
third  class  is  composed  of  the  State  universities,  especially  of 
the  West  and  of  the  South. 

As  to  these  State  universities  there  are  three  things  to  be 
said.  The  first  is  that  they  have  come  to  stay,  at  least  for  a 
long  time.  They  date  from  the  origin  of  many  of  the  States, 
and  there  is  not  likely  soon  to  be  any  change  of  public  senti- 
ment that  will  sustain  the  policy  of  abandoning  them.  Another 
thing  which  ought  to  be  noted  is  that  among  the  colleges  of 
the  land  they  are  rapidly  rising  into  very  great  prominence. 
Possibly  in  Ohio  this  as  yet  is  not  so  perceptible  as  elsewhere  ; 
but  in  nearly  one-half  of  the  States  it  is  apparent  beyond 
question.  They  are  coming  more  and  more  to  be  regarded 
not  only  theoretically,  but  also  practically  as  a  part  of  the 
public  school  systems,  and  the  high  schools  are  made  to  fit  into 
them  and  to  feed  them  with  students.  They  are  every  year 
growing  stronger  in  the  means  of  doing  their  work,  such  as 
buildings,  apparatus  and  libraries.  Legislatures  are  lavish 
in  the  appropriation  of  money  to  them  ;  and  the  attendance  of 
students  is  increasing.  The  third  thing  to  be  said  in  regard  to 
them  is  that  because  of  the  relation  which  they  sustain  to  the 
State  they  have  to  be  administered  on  a  religious  basis  that 
makes  no  distinction  between  Protestant,  Roman  Catholic, 
Christian,  Jew,  or  infidel.  Do  not  misunderstand  me  as  hereby 
asserting  that  all  State  universities  are  "  Godless."  Some  of 
them  are  still  permeated  largely  by  the  teachings  and  spirit  of 
Christ.  There  is  not  one  of  them  in  which  there  are  not  a 
number  of  the  instructors  who  are  devoted  Christians.  Vol- 
untary organizations  among  the  students  are  often  active  ;  and 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  131 

the  churches  by  various  means  try  to  give  the  gospel  under,  the 
existing  conditions.  But  in  some  of  them  there  are  professors 
who  do  not  pretend  to  have  any  faith  in  Christianity,  and  by 
virtue  of  the  idea  of  the  non-religious  character  of  the  State 
and  her  functions  which  we  have  always  accepted  and  are 
coming  to  apply  more  and  more  in  all  directions,  in  none  of 
them  can  there  be  that  positive,  constant  presentation  of  the 
gospel  which  has  always  been  so  conspicuous  in  the  Christian 
colleges  of  the  land. 

The  problem  as  to  the  future  is  how  to  keep  the  Christian 
college  successfully  in  the  front  in  the  severe  competition 
which  it  encounters  in  the  East  with  institutions  like  Harvard 
and  Cornell,  and  in  the  West  with  the  rising  State  universities. 
I  have  no  fear  of  its  abandonment.  The  churches  of  all  de- 
nominations have  put  into  them  too  much  of  men  and  means, 
to  forsake  them  easily  now.  The  past  history  of  these  insti- 
tutions has  shown  what  the  church  was  to  them.  In  many  of 
the  States  also  these  Christian  colleges  in  the  aggregate  exceed 
the  other  institutions  by  many  fold  in  students  and  means  of 
doing  their  work.  Were  I  apprehensive  of  any  disposition 
not  to  perpetuate  this  class  of  institutions  I  would  plead  for 
them  for  many  reasons  of  w^hich  I  can  only  give  a  few. 

The  State  University  contemplates  the  massing  together 
of  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  young  people  still  quite 
immature  in  character  at  some  centre  of  higher  education. 
This  is  done  on  the  theory  that  they  are  universities,  whereas 
they  are  not  in  either  the  German  or  English  sense  :  that  is, 
they  neither  are  devoted  mainly  to  advanced  work  for  students 
who  are  mature  and  have  been  thoroughly  trained  elsewhere, 
nor  are  they  aggregates  of  colleges  each  under  its  own  man- 
agement. Most  of  the  work  done  by  them,  like  that  of  all 
our  colleges,  is  on  a  level  with  the  German  gymnasiinn,  and 
the  students,  because  of  youth  and  low  grade  of  intellectual 
progress,  heed  an  oversight  that  is  not  practicable  where  very 
large  numbers  are  congregated.  I  do  not  forge?  that  in  a  few 
of  these  institutions  opportunities  are  now  offered  for  some 
work  that  properly  belongs  to  a  university.  But  this  only 
make  the  matter  worse  in  one   respect,  for  it   brings  together 


132  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

those  who  by  age  and  attainments  ought  to  be  separated.  Turn 
all  the  whole  higher  education  to  the  State  universities,  and 
the  evil  of  numbers  would  become  intolerable. 

The  distribution  of  colleges  here  and  there  over  a  State 
vastly  increases  their  influence.  The  patronage  of  most  of 
them  comes  mainly  from  a  comparatively  small  circuit  con- 
tiguous to  them  ;  and  most  of  it  should  not  have  gone  any- 
where else.  Even  Harvard,  at  least  until  recently,  drew  her 
students  mainly  from  Eastern  Massachusetts.  Concentrate  the 
work  in  large  colleges  of  any  sort  and  you  lose  these  advantages. 

But  I  plead  for  the  Christian  college  mainly  for  the  sake 
of  the  church,  and  of  society  at  large.  Here  has  been  the  al- 
most exclusive  source  from  which  the  church  has  supplied  her 
ministry.  To-day  very  few  of  the  graduates  of  either  of  the 
other  two  classes  of  college  enter  our  theological  seminaries  ; 
and  that  not  so  much  because  different  sorts  of  men  go  to  the 
respective  kinds  of  colleges,  but  rather  because  in  these  col* 
leges  they  are  subjected  to  different  kinds  of  influences.  Here 
too  has  been  the  source  from  which  the  church  has  largely 
drawn  the  best  of  her  leaders  among  the  laity,  and  for  this 
purpose  there  is  no  substitute.  Here  too  society  at  large  in 
this  country  has  in  the  past  had  the  fountain  of  much  that  is 
best  in  our  civilization.  Education  has  done  much  for  us,  but  « 
it  has  been  an  education  which,  whether  lower  or  higher,  has 
been  married  inseparably  with  Christianity.  Eliminate  this 
element  and  we  cannot  be  permanently  a  prosperous  or  happy 
people. 

But  if  our  Christian  colleges  are  to  remain  and  do  their 
work,  they  must  be  furnished  with  the  means  to  meet  the  grow- 
ing demands  for  differentiation  of  study,  improvements  of 
methods,  and  for  constant  and  great  advances  in  all  depart- 
ments. University  work  proper  as  a  rule  they  had  better  not 
attempt.  But  even  with  this  limitation  the  church  and  her 
people  must  give  very  liberally  if  these  colleges  continue  to 
prosper.  Above  the  need  of  money  is  the  necessity  of  a  larger, 
warmer  place  in  the  hearts  of  ministers  and  of  the  entire  mem- 
bership of  the  churches. 


REV.    W.    C.    ANDERSON,    D.  D. 
1864-1865. 


REV.     C.     L.     THOMPSON,     U.  D. 

1807-1872. 


Pastors  of  t he  First  Presbyterian  CInirrli,  Civcinnati,  O. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  SABBATH-SCHOOL. 

By   Rev.  B.  W.  Chidlaw,  D.  D. 


Growth  is  the  order  of  Providence  and  grace.  The  law* 
prevails  in  the  realm  of  nature  as  in  the  kingdom  of  grace. 
First  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear. 
That  is  the  definite  arrangement  in  nature,  and  the  same 
principle  holds  good  in  the  kingdom  of  grace.  It  is  equally 
true  in  natural  and  in  spiritual  things  ;  the  growth  of  every- 
thifiig  connected  with  religion,  with  Christianity,  has  been  a 
marked  feature  in  the  Providence  of  God  and  the  kingship  ot 
Jesus  Christ,  the  great  head  of  the  church.  It  was  a  small 
thing  for  the  handful  of  men,  untaught  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
world,  to  plant  the  banner  of  the  cross  all  over  the  world.  It 
was  a  small  matter  when  the  cloistered  monk  at  Erfurt  received 
from  God  the  light  that  brought  Christianity  as  a  matter  of 
personal  knowledge  and  experience  to  Luther,  and  belief  in 
the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  re- 
formation rolled  in,  till  to  night  the  Christian  world  gives 
thanks  to  God  for  what  he  wrought.  So  is  it  true  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school. It  was  from  a  very  small  beginning  that  it  has 
grown  to  its  present  gigantic  proportions.  When  I  had  the 
honor  and  pleasure  of  attending  the  Robert  Raikes  Centennial 
in  London  ten  years  ago,  I  was  invited  by  the  chairman  of 
arrangements  with  two  other  foreigners,  as  they  called  us,  to 
visit  the  city  of  Gloucester,  the  birth-place  of  the  Sabbath- 
school. 

After  spending  two  days  in  very  interesting,  and  I  hope 
very  profitable,  service  in  the  city  of  Gloucester  I  heard  that 
the  same  old  house  in  which  Robert  Raikes  held  the  first  Sun- 
day-school was  still  standing.  We  were  entertained  at  the 
house  of  a  gentleman  in  the  city,  and  I  told  my  friend  my  desire 
to  visit  the  house  where  was   started    this   good  and   pleasant 


134  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

work,  and  the  rest  of  the  company  united  with  me  in  this  de- 
sire. We  passed  by  the  great  Cathedral.  The  Sunday-school 
was  not  born  within  its  magnificent  walls.  We  came  to  a 
squalid  part  of  the  city.  The  gentleman  said,  "There  is  the 
house  !"  It  was  a  very  unpretending  building.  The  lower 
story  was  of  brick  and  the  second  of  conglomerate.  I  walked 
across  the  street.  The  black  pine  door  had  a  knocker,  and  as 
I  lifted  my  hand  to  that  knocker  I  thought,  just  one  hundred 
•years  ago  Robert  Raikes  had  touched  that  knocker.  I  expressed 
a  desire  to  enter  the  house.  "Certainly,"  was  the  reply.  '"May 
I  invite  my  other  friends.?"  Permission  was  given  us  to  enter 
the  house  and  we  passed  through  the  front  room  to  a  rear 
room.  In  the  back  part  of  that  room  there  was  a  winding 
stairway.  We  entered  a  little  room  in  the  rear  where  we  could 
stand  and  touch  the  ceiling.  We  stood  there,  some  eight  or 
ten  of  us,  in  silence  and  thoughtfulness.  "I  think  it  would  be 
very  appropriate,"  I  said,  "if  we  should  right  here  offer  two 
prayers  ;  one  of  thanksgiving  to  God  and  one  of  supplication 
for  Divine  favor  and  blessing."  We  bowed  on  that  carpetless 
floor  and  two  of  us  lifted  up  our  hearts  to  God  in  thanksgiving 
and  supplication.  It  was  a  small  meeting,  but  it  was  a  meet- 
ing that  will  be  long  remembered  by  all  of  us  who  participated 
in  it. 

When  I  was  in  Gloucester  I  saw  a  piece  of  paper  on 
which  was  written  the  reasons  why  he  organized  the  Sunday- 
school.  On  that  paper  three  things  were  laid  down  showing 
his  purpose  in  opening  that  Sunday-school.  "First,"  he  said, 
"it  was  to  teach  good  manners."  That  is  a  good  idea  for  Sun- 
day-school work.  "Second,  to  teach  letters,  reading  and  writ- 
ing, and  if  possible  reckoning  and  casting  accounts.  But,"  he 
said,  "the  chief  idea  is  to  teach  them  religious  truth,  that  those 
whom  you  teach  may  become  Christian  men  and  women.'' 
That  was  the  beginning  of  this  glorious  work,  which  has 
spread  over  the  land  and  the  world. 

The  growth  of  the  Sunday-school  is  really  marvelous.  We 
have  overwhelming  evidence  that  the  work  is  of  God.  In  the 
first  decade  of  the  second  centennial  of  the  Sunday-school 
work,  more  than  nineteen  millions  are  gathered  into  the   Sun- 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  135 

day-school  fold  and  supplied  with  Divine  text-books ;  and 
about  half  of  these  millions  are  in  our  own  country.  Let  us 
then  take  courage  and  give  thanks  unto  God,  who  has  already 
given  such  a  proof  of  His  favor  and  blessing  upon  the  work. 

The  growth  of  the  Sunday-school  work  is  marvelous  in 
the  confidence  and  support  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  In 
my  early  life  as  missionary  to  the  American  Sunday-school 
Union,  when  Sunday-schools  were  few  in  the  field,  scattered 
over  Ohio  and  Indiana,  I  encountered  serious  difficulties,  not 
from  unbelievers  so  much  as  from  men  who  professed  faith  in 
Christ.  But  thanks  be  to  God,  for  the  last  thirty  years  I  have 
not  encountered  that  opposition.  There  has  been  growth  in 
that  direction,  with  more  confidence  of  God-fearing  men  and 
with  the  earnest  co-operation  of  the  ministry  and  laymen,  men 
and  women  that  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Then  there  has  been  a  remarkable  growth  in  the  facilities 
and  appliances  by  which  we  carry  on  our  Sunday-school  work. 
When  I  went  down  last  Sabbath  into  the  Sabbath-school  room 
of  this  church,  what  a  blessed  sight  met  my  eyes.  What  a 
mighty  change  in  the  place  of  meeting.  There  was  no  longer 
the  log  cabin  with  light  paper  for  windows.  There  were  no 
longer  split  log  benches  for  seats.  The  meetings  of  the  Sun- 
day-schools are  no  longer  held  under  the  shade  of  forest  trees. 
They  have  very  comfortable  and  desirable  homes.  That  is  all 
right.  This  growth  is  the  fruitage  of  Christian  labor  and  en- 
lightened ideas  of  the  Sunday-school. 

There  has  been  a  wonderful  growth  not  only  numerically, 
but  also  a  wonderful  growth  in  the  literature  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  How  well  do  I  remember  the  time  when  I  had  only 
the  Welsh  Bible  and  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress  to  study- 
Blessed  literature.  What  food  for  thought  was  there  in  that 
immortal  production  of  the  tinker  in  the  jail  at  Bedford.  The 
first  juvenile  book  I  ever  read  so  as  to  be  interested  in  it,  in 
the  English  language,  was  one  I  found  at  Kenyon  college.  It 
was  called  "The  Dairyman's  Daughter."  Then  there  were  but 
few  books  written  and  published  for  the  Sunday-school.  It  is 
not  so  now.  Now  the  Sunday-school  has  an  immense  liter- 
ature, the   production   of  the   best  intellects  and  hearts  in  the 


136  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

world.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  frivolous,  soul-destroying 
literature  afloat.  Our  young  people  are  fed  v^'ith  a  literature 
that  poisons  the  soul,  and  such  a  literature  gets  into  our  Sun- 
day-school libraries.  If  the  Sunday-school  officers  and  commit- 
tee on  the  library  are  faithful  and  competent,  they  have  a  wide 
range  to  choose  from  in  the  American  Tract  Society  and  in  the 
American  Sunday-school  Union.  It  is  said  of  the  American 
^unday-school  Union,  that  it  has  eighteen  hundred  books 
breathing  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Let  us  make  use 
of  it,  my  friends,  to  the  promotion  of  our  Sunday-school  work. 

Then  there  has  been  and  there  is  now  a  wonderful  growth 
in  the  ingathering  of  converted  children,  youth  and  adults 
from  the  world  to  the  church.  What  a  grand  feature  of  Sun- 
day-school work  it  is.  What  a  wonderful  power  there  is  in 
Bible  teaching  through  the  intellect  to  reach  the  heart  of  the 
scholar  and  bring  him  to  an  enlightened  confession  of  sin,  and 
upon  bended  knees  to  pray  to  God  to  "be  merciful  to  me,  a 
sinner."  May  the  spirit  of  God  rest  upon  our  Sunday-school 
work  more  than  ever,  that  the  growth  may  be  greater  now  than 
ever  before. 

But,  my  friends,  great  as  the  growth  of  the  Sunday-school 
has  been,  it  is  not  yet  complete.  Some  of  you  will  see  a  growth 
that  the  old  missionary  has  not  seen.  Our  brother  said  this 
old  church  had  thirteen  missionary  Sunday-schools  in  this  city. 
What  a  blessed  work.  My  soul  has  been  filled  with  joy  and 
hope,  but  the  growth  is  not  yet  complete.  One-half  of  the 
juvenile  population  of  our  country  are  not  educated  around  the 
Christian  altar  at  home.  They  never  come  into  our  Sunday- 
schools.  They  never  hear  from  the  pulpit  the  ministry  of 
salvation.  They  are  growing  up  ignorant  of  the  way  of  sal- 
vation. Oh,  that  God  would  put  it  into  our  hearts  from  this 
hour  to  do  more  work  in  the  ingathering  of  souls  into  the 
Sabbath-school  fold.  Our  juvenile  population  should  be  taught 
to  revere  and  study  and  believe  the  word  of  God.  The  Sunday- 
school  has  much  to  do  in  this  direction. 

Some  time  ago  in  one  of  our  stations  waiting  for  a  train 
was  a  family  of  emigrants  going  West.  I  asked  one  of  the 
children  whether  he  had  ever  gone  to  school.     "Not  much,"  he 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  137 

said.  I  said,  "Did  you  ever  go  to  Sunday-school?"  "Yes  sir, 
some."  "What  book  did  you  read?"  "It  was  a  small  black 
book  about  as  big  as  your  hand."  "Was  it  a  testament?" 
"Oh,  yes."  Would  that  there  were  greater  reverence  for  the 
word  of  God.  Would  that  the  people  would  look  at  it  as  an 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  My  friends,  we  want 
greater  growth  in  the  Sunday-school,  not  only  in  gathering  the 
ignorant  and  neglected  within  its  folds,  for  giving  our  youth 
right  ideas  of  the  Divine  text-book,  that  they  may  reverence  if 
and  believe  in  it,  but  also  we  want  growth  in. holding  on  to 
our  Sunday-school  scholars.  Oh,  what  a  terrible  shrinkage 
we  suffer  in  the  falling  away  of  the  great  number  of  our  young 
people.  At  the  time  when  the  teaching  would  do  them  the 
most  good  they  break  ranks.  We  want  growth  in  this  direc- 
tion so  as  to  continue  them  in  the  line  of  Sabbath  observance 
an(i  that  they  may  attend  the  singing  and  the  preaching  of 
God's  word.  When  I  used  to  saddle  my  horse  with  my  saddle- 
bags full  of  testaments  and  Bibles,  I  little  dreamed  that  I 
would  stand  on  this  platform  ;  and  when  I  recall  the  past  and 
my  eyes  behold  the  present  condition  of  the  Sunday-school, 
my  heart  rejoices  that  the  growth  of  the  Sunday-school  work 
has  been  full  of  encouragement,  full  of  hope  and  full  of 
inspiration. 

THE  SABBATH-SCHOOL  AN  AGGRESSIVE 
FORCE  IN  CHURCH  WORK. 


By  Robert  S.  Fulton. 


The  church  has  a  mission  to  the  unevangelized.  There  is 
a  mighty  emphasis  upon  that  in  the  Scripture  and  in  history. 
It  is  foreshadowed  in  prophecy  ;  taught  by  parables  and  illus- 
trated by  types  and  miracles  ;  stimulated  by  promises  and  com- 
manded in  the  very  plainest  terms  of  inspiration.  Look  back 
over  the  history  of  the  church  in  those  periods.  When  the  hearts 
of  God's  people  -were  most  tender,  and  they  most  active  in 
their    great   duty    toward    the   unsaved   masses,   how   all    their 


138  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

graces  have  grown,  how  all  their  enterprises  have  flourished. 
In  those  periods  when  the  church  has  lost  interest  in  the  un- 
saved, it  has  been  marked  by  spiritual  decline  and  loss  of 
power.  It  is  not  enough,  friends,  that  we  ordain  our  ministers 
and  build  pleasant  churches  and  assume  an  attitude  of  invita- 
tion merely  ;  the  church  is  under  marching  orders.  Our  master 
Says  unto  us,  "Go,  teach  all  nations."  Often  we  limit  the 
great  commission.  Our  master  teaches  us  to  go  forth  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  all  the  world.  We  are  to  go  into  the  high- 
ways and  hedges  ;  we  are  to  go  into  the  streets  and  alleys  ; 
we  are  to  reach  by  all  sorts  of  persuasion  and  induce  the  out- 
lying masses  to  come  in.  In  the  very  language  of  Scripture 
we  are  to  compel  them  to  come  in. 

Now  in  this  great  work  of  reaching  those  not  in  our 
churches,  of  reaching  the  masses  that  do  not  attend  upon  the 
ministry  of  the  pulpit,  there  is  no  force  that  begins  to  have  the 
hold  upon  these  masses  that  the  Sabbath-school  has. 

It  may  have  been  your  privilege  to  attend  that  first  evening 
meeting  of  one  of  the  General  Assemblies  of  our  church,  and 
witness  a  scene,  which  no  loyal  Presbyterian  and  no  true 
Christian  can  look  upon  and  soon  forget,  of  five  or  six  hundred 
men,  chosen  from  all  the  professions  and  all  the  occupations  of 
honorable  life,  coming  together  to  consult  about  the  interests 
of  Christ's  kingdom  and  spend  that  first  evening  together 
at  the  Lord's  table. 

One  would  think  in  such  a  presence  that  the  great  work 
of  the  church  was  to  go  out  and  reach  men  of  this  generation 
and  bring  them  to  Christ ;  the  men  of  mature  years,  the  men 
of  business,  push  and  enterprise,  the  stalwart  men  of  this  gen- 
eration. Who  does  not  feel  on  such  an  occasion  the  dignity 
and  value  of  such  a  help  to  the  church  of  Christ.  But,  dear 
friends,  humanly  speaking,  the  men  of  mature  years  and  mature 
life  of  our  present  generation  are  all  lost  to  the  church,  and  if 
the  church  were  to  multiply  her  energies  ten  hundred  fold,  the 
grown  up  men  will  not  be  reached  by  the  gospel.  Hence  I 
say,  in  the  great  work  of  saving  men,  in  bringing  men  under 
the  dominion  and  power  of  the  Gospel,  you  must  use  the  Sun- 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  139 

day-school  organization  of  the  church.  You  must  reach  the 
boys  of  this  generation,  if  you  would  have  the  men  of  the  next. 

If  you  would  take  that  representative  assembly  of  fivp  or 
six  hundred  men  and  trace  the  inner  history  of  their  lives,  you 
would  be  surprised  at  the  small  proportion  of  those  men,  who 
in  mature  life  have  come  into  the  kingdom. 

No,  friends,  we  must  go  farther  back.  The  vast  majority 
of  those  men  now  represented  in  the  faith,  now  so  loyal  to  the 
work  of  Christ  and  the  church,  capable  of  so  much,  and  adding 
so  much  of  dignity  and  power  to  Christ's  kingdom,  are 
those  who  were  brought  in,  in  their  youth,  those  who  were 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  in  early  life.  We 
have  many  illustrations  of  this.  We  know  that  the  greatest 
enemy  the  power  of  Rome  ever  had  was  Hannibal.  But  Hanni- 
bal stood  at  the  altar  and  swore  eternal  enmity  to  Rome  when 
he  was  but  a  boy. 

Mr.  Spurgeon  has  said  that  if  there  was  any  one  incident 
of  his  life  that  led  him  into  the  ministry  of  Christ,  it  was 
when  an  old  minister  came  to  his  father's  house  when  he  was 
a  boy,  bade  him  to  give  his  heart  to  Christ,  and  as  he  was  about 
to  say  goodby,  laid  his  hand  on  his  head  and  said,  "I  believe 
some  day  you  will  be  a  minister  of  Christ  and  a  winner  of 
souls." 

So  I  say,  dear  friends,  if  the  church  is  to  reach  the  men  of 
the  next  generation  they  must  do  it  by  reaching  the  boys  of  the 
present. 

The  remark  was  made  by  the  General  Secretary  of  Sab- 
bath-school work,  in  this  room  at  a  recent  convention,  that  is 
worth  repeating  ;  that  is,  that  the  Sabbath-school  agency  of 
the  church  is  the  most  economical  agency  that  we  have  to 
reach  the  unsaved.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  eighteen 
million  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and  young  women,  in  the 
Sunday-school  in  America  and  Europe  to-day.  There  are  two 
million  men  and  women  giving  their  time  to  this  work  as 
teachers  and  superintendents  every  week.  I  suppose  that  the 
time  of  these  men  and  women  has  a  commercial  value.  I  sup- 
pose it  would  be  reasonable  to  estimate  the  commercial  value 
of  the  time  of  the  men  and  women  in  America  and  Europe, 


140  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

devoting  their  energies  every  Sabbath  to  this  great  work  at 
not  less  than  fifty  dollars  a  year.  That  represents  at  least  one 
hundred  million  dollars  every  year.  The  church  has  the  benefit 
of  that  vv^ork  and  it  is  not  paid  for  out  of  her  treasury. 

I  know  of  but  one  man  in  all  our  land  who  receives  com- 
pensation for  his  labor.  There  is  one  in  our  State.  He  is  a 
superintendent  who  receives  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars  a 
year  to  take  charge  of  a  Sunday-school  and  run  it. 

But  these  two  million  people  are  the  most  cultivated  and 
useful  members  of  our  churches.  They  are  giving  their  services 
every  Sabbath  of  every  year  without  any  compensation  other 
than  the  satisfaction  of  doing  what  they  can  to  reach  the  un- 
saved. We  are  not  only  reaching  the  boys  and  girls,  but  are 
using  the  boys  and  girls  to  reach  the  parents.  There  is  no 
better  way  to  reach  parents  and  members  of  families  not  in 
terested  in  our  churches  than  through  the  Sunday-school. 

As  I  stand  here  and  look  back  over  a  few  years  of  my 
connection  with  this  work,  I  recall  a  family  that  came  into  the 
church  through  the  Sunday-school.  The  father  had  been  taken 
away.  The  children  attended  a  mission  Sunday-school,  and 
to-day  the  mother,  one  grown  up  son,  and  three  grown  up 
daughters  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  I  recall 
another ;  a  widow  who  moved  into  the  neighborhood  of  a 
church  and  was  invited  to  send  her  children  to  the  Sunday- 
school.  They  came,  and  only  last  week  I  met  two  of  those 
girls  ;  one  of  them  called  me  by  name  and  said  :  ''I  suppose 
you  know  Emily  and  I  have  united  with  the  church."  Four  out 
of  that  family  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  doing 
good  work.  One  or  two  of  them  are  teaching.  I  recall  a 
bright  little  girl ;  she  came  into  the  primary  class  ten  or  more 
years  ago  ;  she  had  a  profane  father  and  mother.  To-day  that 
mother  and  that  child  are  members  of  the  church. 

These  are  not  isolated  examples.  Your  own  hearts  and 
your  own  minds  will  recall  instances  of  a  like  character,  illus- 
trating the  great  truth,  that  a  little  child  shall  lead  them. 
There  is  no  better  way,  friends,  to  get  into  these  homes  than 
by  the  way  opened  to  you  by  the  Sunday-school  teacher,  in 
connection  with  Sunday-school  work. 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  141 

We  never  have  a  Sunday-school  convention  that  somebody 
does  not  come  in  and  pour  cold  w^ater  on  all  our  enthusiasm 
and  criticise  our  work.  How  easy  it  is  to  criticise  any  vv^ork. 
Let  us  take  up  the  w^ork,  my  friends,  and  push  it  forward. 
There  will  be  critics  till  the  judgment  day.  If  we  wait  till  the 
work  is  so  perfect  that  critics  will  find  nothing  to  find  fault 
with,  we  shall  postpone  all  our  work  for  another  country. 

Some  men  come  in  and  tell  us  that  the  Sabbath-school 
usurps  the  place  of  the  home.  When  I  hear  them  talk  about  that 
I  wonder  why  they  do  not  go  to  the  parents  who  are  neglect- 
ing their  duties  to  their  children  and  harangue  them,  and  preach 
their  doctrines  to  them,  where  they  belong.  Why  do  they  go 
to  the  poor  men  and  women  who  are  doing  all  they  can  to  save 
the  children  who  are  neglected  by  their  parents? 

A  gentleman  said  to  me  the  other  day  :  "I  am  going  to 
make  an  editor  of  my  boy."  "Oh,  indeed,  do  you  think  he  is 
qualified  for  that  position?"  "Oh  yes,  I  think  he  would  suc- 
ceed in  that,  he  is  one  of  those  boys  that  is  never  satisfied  with 
anything." 

There  are  a  good  many  people  that  get  into  our  Sunday- 
school  conventions,  apparently,  simply  to  throw  cold  water  on 
our  enthusiasm.  They  are  never  satisfied  with  anything  that  is 
done. 

Let  me  tell  you  the  men  and  women  who  are  building  up 
Christ's  kingdom  are  not  those  who  are  carping  critics.  Let  us 
pass  them  by.  Let  us  go  on  with  our  work.  Let  us  not  be 
discouraged.  Undoubtedly  the  Sabbath-school  is  an  imperfect 
institution.  Undoubtedly  it  could  be  improved  in  a  great  many 
ways.  Let  us  all  come  in  for  a  part  and  share  in  the  good 
work  of  improving  it.  Those  who  see  its  faults  and  short 
comings  should  do  what  they  can  to  remedy  them.  Let  us, 
dear  friends,  be  not  discouraged.  Let  us  put  a  little  more  en- 
thusiasm into  our  work.  Let  us  do  what  we  can  to  widen  its 
influence,  for  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Sabbath- 
school  work  will  spread  wider  in  its  influence  and  usefulness, 
till  the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea. 


THE  MISSION  STATION  FOR  THE  MODERN 

CITY. 


By  The  Rev.  Peter  Robertson, 
Of  Mohazvk  Presbyteriaji  Mission,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 


The  old  world  had  its  great  cities,  its  teeming  centres  of 
life  and  civilization,  w^hich  w^ere  dominant  in  the  affairs  of  the 
nation.  Babylon  determined  the  life,  character  and  fate  of  the 
Chaldean  Empire.  Nineveh  developed  the  character  and  de- 
termined the  destiny  of  the  Assyrian  Empire.  Jerusalem  vv^as 
long  the  pride  of  the  Jewish  mind,  and  her  marvelous  civili- 
zation is  woven  into  that  of  the  entire  history  of  God's  ancient 
people,  and  gives  to  it  its  prevailing  tone  and  color.  It  was  the 
rejection  of  Jesus  by  the  city  of  Jerusalem  which  has  sealed 
the  doom  of  Israel  these  many  centuries.  Rome  seemed  for  a 
long  time  to  hold  the  destiny  of  the  known  world  in  her  right 
hand,  and  to  forge  and  fashion  that  destiny  according  to  her 
liking.  In  a  word,  almost  the  entire  history  of  the  old  world, 
up  to  the  advent  of  our  blessed  Lord,  is  the  history  of  a  very 
few  large  cities.  As  the  cities  were,  such  were  the  people  of  the 
old  empires. 

Our  age  is  pre-eminently  the  age  of  great  and  numerous 
cities.  No  less  than  eleven  cities  of  to-day  have  a  million  or 
more  people  within  _their  limits.  London  has  nearly  four 
millions  of  human  souls  within  her  boundaries.  Paris,  two 
millions  ;  Berlin  and  Vienna  have  both  gone  beyond  the  mil- 
lion, while  China  has  one  city  of  a  million  and  a  half,  and 
three  cities  each  of  which  contains  a  million  of  people.  Canton, 
one  and  a  half  million  ;  Chang  Chou,  one  million  ;  See  Ngan, 
one  million,  and  Siangtan,  one  million. 

The  forthcoming  census  will  show  that  we  in  these  United 
States  have  three  cities  of  over  a  million  of  souls.  New  York 
rolls  up  its  million  and  a  half  (1,513,501).     Chicago  has  its 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  143 

1,098,576.  Philadelphia  has  its  1,044,894,  while  Brooklyn 
claims  its  804,377.  We  have  three  cities  of  over  four  hundred 
thousand  ;  a  goodly  number  of  over  two  hundred  thousand, 
and  about  twenty-five  at  one  hundred  thousand  or  more.  It  is 
estimated  that  one-fourth  of  our  entire  population  of  sixty 
millions  of  people  live  in  cities,  and  the  drift  of  things  is 
more  and  more  strongly  in  this  direction.  The  American  city, 
like  the  city  of  the  old  world,  will  dominate  and  determine 
American  civilization.  What,  therefore,  is  to  be  the  character 
of  the  American  city?  What  forces  can  we  set  in  motion  and 
keep  in  motion  in  order  to  secure  a  Christian  civilization  to 
future  generations,  are  questions  of  the  greatest  moment, 
worthy  of  the  profoundest  thought  of  the  Christian  statesman, 
the  Christian  philanthropist  and  the  church  of  the  living  God. 

If  the  mission  station  is  now  to  be  placed  in  battle  array 
as  an  important  factor  in  the  regeneration  of  our  cities,  it  is  all 
important  that  we  have  a  clear,  full,  exact  and  comprehensive 
understanding  of  what  a  modern  American  city  is,  what  forces 
of  evil  are  arraigned  against  us,  what  agencies  are  employed  to 
develop,  strengthen,  multiply  and  render  these  evil  forces  all 
but  invincible.  That  genei-al  makes  a  fatal  mistake  who  does 
not  familiarize  himself  with  the  resources  of  his  adversary  and 
who  underestimates  the  strength  of  the  enemy  with  which  he 
must  measure  swords. 

The  American  city  is  no  longer  an  American  city,  but  is 
very  largely  a  strange  motley  and  heterogeneous  crowd  of  alien 
and  hostile  elements  from  over  the  sea.  Our  municipal  affairs 
are  largely  in  their  hands  and  they  have  little  or  no  capacity 
for  intelligent,  efficient  and  honest  administration.  Making 
due  allowance  for  very  many  worthy  foreign  born  citizens  the 
fact  still  remains  that  we  have  much  of  the  ofFscouring  of 
Europe,  the  worst  elements  of  society  yearly  landed  upon  our 
shores,  and  these  must  be  civilized,  christianized  and  Ameri- 
canized or  our  own  civilization  will  suffer  an  eclipse. 

These  alien  and  hostile  elements  perplex  us  on  every  hand. 
They  foist  upon  us  their  social  customs,  their  language,  their 
lawlessness,  their  riot  and  their  dissipation.  The  Sabbath  has 
been  a  wall  of  fire  around  us  in  time  past  when  the  Bible  con- 


144  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

ception  of  it  obtained  among  our  people.  Now,  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  people  who  live  in  our  cities  regard 
it  and  use  it  as  a  day  of  visitation,  idleness  and  dissipation,  a 
day  for  amusement  and  drunkenness,  riot  and  revelry.  Our 
theatres,  concert  halls,  beer  halls  and  suburban  resorts  are  well 
ordered  in  all  their  appointments  to  develop,  feed  and  inflame 
the  depraved  appetites  of  men.  The  i^evelry  abounding  on  a 
Sabbath  evening  in  these,  the  patronage  they  receive,  and  the 
awful  demoralizing  influences  they  exert  are  perfectly  appalling 
and  calculated  to  impress  the  mind  of  young  men,  and  young 
women  too  who  frequent  them,  with  the  thought  that  neither 
God  nor  the  interest  of  their  souls  have  any  claim  whatever 
upon  a  seventh  part  of  their  time. 

Think  of  thirteen  hundred  professional  musicians  engaged 
in  a  single  city  on  a  Sabbath  evening  to  make  music  in  har- 
mony with  evil  ruinous  influences  and  to  fiddle  away  from  us 
our  precious  Christian  Sabbath.  The  mission  station  of  the 
future  has  to  face  all  these  strongly  entrenched  forces  of  evil, 
has  to  storm  these  strongly  fortified  citadels  of  Satan,  and 
ought  to  make  an  end  of  all  these  vanity  fairs.  If  these  teem- 
ing centres  with  their  pent  up  forces  are  by  the  mission  station 
to  be  regenerated  ;  if  the  station  come  forth  victorious  from 
the  fray  with  her  trophies  of  grace,  and  solve  one  of  the  most 
perplexing  and  difficult  problems  the  church  of  God  has  ever 
attempted  ;  if  it  achieves  such  splendid  results — pray  tell  us  if 
you  can,  what  manner  of  creature  in  all  its  appointments  the 
mission  station  for  the  modern  city  ought  to  be?  "What  king 
going  to  make  war  against  another  king  sitteth  not  down  first 
and  consulteth  whether  he  be  able  with  ten  thousand  to  meet 
him  that  cometh  against  him  w^ith  twenty  thousand." 

The  character  of  the  people  to  be  evangelized  in  our 
modern  cities  presents  serious  difficulties.  This  differs  in  dif- 
ferent cities  and  in  different  portions  of  the  same  city.  Here 
for  example  is  a  strip  of  territory  with  fifteen  thousand  people 
on  it  and  buildings  going  up  in  every  direction.  There  is  no 
church  or  mission  of  any  kind  on  it,  and  Sabbath  desecration, 
club  rooms  and  low  saloons  abound  on  all  hands.  The  people 
are  poor  but  thrifty,  and  self-respecting  and  ambitious  for  their 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  145 

children.  They  need  help  in  many  directions  ;  they  are  teach- 
able, but  they  need  instruction  and  guidance.  Let  a  mission 
station  be  properly  adapted  to  the  social,  intellectual  and 
spiritual  necessities  of  s-uch  a  district,  and  from  it  will  come 
numerous  converts,  men  and  women  who  will  be  a  blessing  to 
society,  and  who  in  time  will  return  to  the  treasury  of  the 
church  far  more  money  than  is  expended  on  them.  There  are 
other  portions  of  the  same  city  where  the  people  are  much 
lower  down  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  much  more  under  the 
power  of  depraved  appetites,  and  who  very  much  need  to  have 
done  for  them  a  work  which  only  the  church  of  Christ  can  do. 

There  are  tei:is  of  thousands  of  people  crowded  together 
in  the  tenement  house  where  the  clear  sunlight  and  the  pure 
air  of  heaven  are  strangers,  where  the  outward  filth  is  a  faint 
picture  of  the  inner  uncleanness  of  their  souls.  The  vicious 
and  licentious,  the  drunken,  the  pauper  and  the  criminal  class 
all  nestle  here  together.  Such  a  community  needs  physical 
and  intellectual  help  as  well  as  spiritual  help.  When  such 
people  are  converted  situations  must  be  found  for  them,  a 
watchful  eye  kept  upon  them  till  they  are  established  in  the 
pathway  of  virtue  and  righteousness. 

To  arrest  the  attention  of  such  people  and  fasten  it  upon 
unseen,  eternal  things  which  are  revealed  to  faith  requires  a 
power,  energy  and  effort  proportioned  to  the  depths  of  sin  and 
vice  into  which  they  have  fallen  and  in  which  they  are  firmly 
held.  It  would  be  idle  to  seek  to  lift  Niagara  from  its  watery 
bed  with  a  five  cent  tin  cup.  There  is  not  only  a  confirmed 
habit  of  non-church  going  among  the  working  poor,  but  a 
growing  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  church  of  Christ,  a  feeling 
that  it  is  unfriendly  towards  their  lowly  estate.  There  is  also 
the  growing  feeling  that  the  church  may  be  all  well  enough 
for  women  and  children,  but  that  it  is  not  a  suitable  place  for 
strong  men.  The  weapon  of  ridicule  is  used  with  telling  effect 
in  the  workshop  against  those  men  who  occasionally  go  within 
the  sound  of  the  gospel. 

There  are  poor  mothers,  by  the  hundreds  in  a  large  city, 
who  have  young  children  in  the  family  for  sixteen  years  or 
more  and  who  have  thus  foisted  upon  them  a  non-church  going 


146  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

habit  till,  alas,  in  too  many  instances  it  remains  fixed  till  the 
end  of  life.  The  father  opposed  to  the  church,  never  hearing 
the  blessed  gospel  for  years  and  years,  the  mother  unable  to  go 
where  it  is  proclaimed,  the  home  thus  rendered  Godless,  we  can 
readily  see  how  thoroughly  neglected  will  be  the  religious  life 
and  training  of  the  children.  If  the  preacher  unaided  attempts 
to  do  all  the  various  things  needing  to  be  done  he  will  be  in 
great  danger  of  changing  places  with  the  philanthropist. 

The  difficulties  multiply  and  thicken  around  us  when  we 
call  to  mind  the  flight  of  the  disciples  to  the  suburbs  and  the 
hill  tops,  the  withdrawal  of  most  of  the  trained  workers,  the 
financial  supporters,  the  life  and  heart,  the  brain  and  soul  of 
the  church.  "If  the  salt  have  lost  its  savor  wherewith  shall  it 
be  salted  ?"  If  the  salt  be  removed  from  the  substances  which 
it  w^as  meant  to  preserve,  wherewith  shall  they  be  salted? 

We  are  told  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  that  on  the  death  of  Stephen  there  was  a  great  per- 
secution against  the  church  at  Jerusalem  and  the  disciples  were 
scattered  abroad,  and  they  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
w^ord.  Philip  went  down  to  the  city  of  Samaria,  wrestled 
there  with  unclean  spirits,  preached  Christ  unto  the  people  and 
there  was  great  joy  in  that  city.  We  have  heard  of  no  great 
persecution  of  the  church  in  this  or  any  of  our  great  cities,  but 
there  is  a  great  dispersion  of  the  saints,  the  disciples  are  indeed 
scattered,  but  are  they  scattered  in  order  that  they  may  the 
better  serve  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  preach  the  word  and  cause 
great  joy  in  all  our  cities? 

We  appreciate  the  reasons  which  govern  our  more  pros- 
perous Christian  brethren  in  seeking  to  remove  their  families 
from  the  smoke,  heat  and  evil  influences  of  an  overcrowded 
city  to  more  peaceful,  soothing  and  restful  abodes  in  the  suburbs 
and  hill-tops  ;  we  sympathize  with  the  conscientious  feeling 
that  the  first  duty  of  parents  is  to  make  sure  of  a  place  in  the 
kingdom  for  the  children  which  have  been  entrusted  to  their 
care,  and  to  guard  their  young  lives  from  the  pernicious  in- 
fluence of  city  life. 

It  is  fair,  however,  to  ask  that  the  other  side  of  the  ques- 
tion have  due  consideration  also,  "the  eflfect  of  all  this  moving 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  147 

to  the  hills  and  suburbs  upon  the  cause  of  Christ  as  it  bears 
upon  the  evangelization  of  our  cities.  All  things  in  the  world 
are  watched  by  God  with  reference  to  his  kingdom,  and  it  is  of 
the  very  essence  of  his  discipleship  that  we  order  all  our  affairs, 
our  business  and  our  homes  with  regard  to  the  final  outcome  of 
the  present  order  of  things,  the  consummation  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ."  The  chief  end  of  man  is  still  to  glorify  God  and 
to  enjoy  Him  forever.  The  words  of  Jesus  are  still  true  :  "He 
that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it." 

The  suburbs  and  hill-tops  ought,  of  course,  to  have  their 
beautiful  churches  with  convenient  appointments,  appropriate 
and  costly  music,  and  able  and  Godly  ministers,  but  they  must 
not  forget  that  the  centres  of  Christian  activity  which  they 
have  left  in  the  city  still  need,  and  more  than  ever  need,  their 
strong  arms  around  them  and  their  well  filled  pocket  books  be- 
neath them. 

Our  interests  in  the  kingdom  of  God  are  mutual.  We  in 
the  city  will  lead  sinners  to  the  Savior,  care  for  them  for  a  time, 
but  when  prosperity  smiles  upon  them  many  of  them  will 
doubtless  follow  the  example  of  the  suburban  and  hill-top  dis- 
ciples. It  will  not  only  be  desirable  to  receive  as  many  con- 
verts as  possible  from  the  down-town  centres  of  evangelistic 
activity,  but  to  have  them  of  the  best  possible  quality.  The 
number  and  quality  will  very  largely  depend  upon  the  part  the 
hill-top  and  suburban  Christians  will  take  in  this  all  important 
work. 

Having  set  forth  the  difficulties  which  meet  us  at  the  very 
threshold  of  city  evangelization,  let  us,  if  we  can,  tell  how  the 
Herculean  task  can  be  accomplished  and  the  millions  of  perish- 
ing people  in  our  cities  saved  and  sanctified.  The  attention  of 
the  whole  church  must  be  called  without  delay  to  this  subject. 
-Agitation  first,  organization  next.  The  entire  strength  of  the 
church  in  numbers,  ability,  knowledge,  tact,  money  and  loving 
service  must  be  brought  into  play  as  far  as  possible  without 
damaging  other  important  interests.  The  mission  station 
should  be  located  in  the  midst  of  the  people,  the  building  large, 
small,  or  medium  size,  according  to  the  number  of  persons  to 
be  reached  with  the  gospel.    The  edifice  should  be  in  harmony. 


148  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

or  somewhat  in  advance,  of  the  homes  of  the  people  ;  cleanly, 
cheerful,  commodious  with  conveniences  for  night  school, 
music  school,  reading  rooms,  kindergarten,  kitchen  garden  and 
elevated  social  life.  Everything  about  the  mission  station 
should  lead  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  The  ecclesiastical  organi- 
zation of  the  mission  should  be  as  simple  and  elastic  as  possi- 
ble, its  discipline  and  management  as  thoroughly  in  the  hands 
of  the  preacher  as  the  scripture  will  allow. 

A  sense  of  responsibility  should  be  carefully  cultivated  in 
the  minds  of  the  converts  ;  they  should  be  taught  to  give  reg- 
ularly to  Christ's  cause  and  to  the  full  measure  of  their  ability, 
till  the  point  of  self-denial  is  reached,  for  this  is  where  Chris- 
tian liberality  begins.  It,  however,  will  only  be  safe  after 
many  years  of  careful,  patient  training  to  entrust  the  mission 
people  with  the  management  of  property,  the  guardianship  of 
Christian  doctrine,  or  the  administration  of  the  order  of  God's 
house. 

All  the  ordinances  should  be  administered  in  the  mission 
station  ;  converts  received  on  profession  of  their  faith,  baptized, 
admitted  to  the  Lord's  supper  and  enrolled  as  members  of  the 
church  of  Christ.  The  more  church  life  the  people  can  have 
at  their  doors  the  better  it  will  be  for  them,  and  the  more  the 
atmosphere  is  impregnated  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  the 
more  numerous  will  be  the  conversions. 

The  preacher  should  be  a  man  of  common  sense,  a  student 
of  human  nature,  a  man  of  deep  conviction  of  truth,  full  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  faith  and  spiritual  power  ;  active,  earnest,  hopeful, 
sympathetic,  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  soul  and  con- 
sumed with  a  passion  for  saving  it.  He  should  have  associated 
with  him  a  body  of  thoroughly  t^rained,  paid  workers,  of  like 
spirit  with  himself,  who  can  devote  their  entire  time  to  the 
study  and  prosecution  of  this  great  and  most  pressing  work. 

There  ought  to  be  a  permanent  fund  created  in  every  city 
(this  is  specially  necessary  where  a  theological  seminary  is 
located)  from  which  Godly  and  capable  students  could  be  paid 
to  spend  a  portion  of  their  time  weekly  in  city  evangelization. 
A  splendid  training  school  this  would  be  for  applying  the 
often  times  ill  adapted  instruction  of  the  class  room.     A  Scot- 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  149 

tish  Theological  Seminary  has  a  chair  of  Evangelistic  Theology 
and  the  distinguished  Dr.  Duff  taught  for  years  in  this  position. 

The  preaching  of  the  word  ought  to  be  the  principal  busi- 
ness of  the  mission  station  and  should  make  prominent  the 
love  of  God,  the  doctrine  of  sin,  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ 
and  the  pending  judgment.  The  formal  preaching  of  the  word 
in  the  pulpit  several  times  a  week  will  form,  however,  but  a 
very  small  part  of  the  preaching  needed  to  deliver  our  perish- 
ing millions  from  their  confirmed  non-church  going  habits  and 
their  general  neglect  of  their  souls.  Men  are  saved  as  individ- 
uals, they  are  justified  in  the  court  of  heaven  as  individuals, 
and  over  each  repenting  sinner  the  angels  sing  a  separate  song. 
The  kind  of  preaching  which  will  break  up  this  very  general 
neglect  of  God's  house  on  the  part  of  the  so-called  masses  is 
sympathetic,  direct,  simple,  personal,  individual  preaching, 
faithful  exposition  of  the'word,  close  contact  with  the  individ- 
ual, every  house  besieged  with  a  gentle  violence,  and  every 
person  in  every  house  made  to  hear  and  to  understand  the 
necessities  of  his  heart  and  the  ample  provision  which  God  has 
made  in  the  gift  of  his  dear  son  to  meet  these  necessities. 

"Raise  up  your  workers,"  you  say.  "Impossible,"  we  reply 
The  material  for  workers  is  not  on  the  ground.  Those  whom 
the  hill-tops  and  suburbs  have  left  us  have  not  had  the  edu- 
cation, nor  the  religious  or  social  advantages  competent  to 
make  teachers,  at  least  for  years  to  come.  "If  the  blind  lead 
the  blind,  both  will  fall  into  the  ditch."  The  city  mission  of 
London  has  just  completed  fifty  years  experience,  and  its  band 
of  paid  visitors,  teachers  and  missionaries  numbers  five  hundred 
men  and  women.  God  has  set  the  seal  of  his  approval  upon 
its  methods  and  his  people  have  poured  out  their  gold  like  dust 
and  made  London  a  net  work  of  missions  to  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  society.  The  hill-top  and  suburban  disciples 
have  there  realized,  in  part,  at  least,  their  solemn  responsibility 
to  the  perishing  millions,  and  have  not  only  given  their  money, 
but  themselves  to  this  grand  and  glorious  work.  Shaftesbury, 
the  evangelistic  Earl,  refusing  a  place  in  the  ministry  of  Lord 
Palmerston,  felt  that  God  had  called  him  to  more  important  work 


150  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

and  spent  his  life  seeking  to  lift  the  poor  to  a  higher  level.  No 
wonder  the  common  people  bathed  the  streets  of  London  with 
their  tears  and  put  on  the  badge  of  mourning  as  his  bier  moved 
towards  Westminster  Abbey. 

It  is  probable  that  the  down  town  church  must  change  her 
front  in  the  near  future  and  become  a  mission  station.  This  is 
the  common  prophecy.  That  means  new  appointments,  endow- 
ments or  sustentation  funds,  and  adaptations  to  changed  cir- 
cumstances. To  properly  equip  the  depleted,  the  deserted 
down  town  church  and  a  sufficient  number  of  mission  stations 
with  well  trained,  well  qualified  visitors,  Bible  readers  and 
teachers  means  the  christianization  of  the  money-making  talent 
in  the  church,  a  Bible  idea  of  stewardship. 

God's  professing  people,  it  is  estimated,  possess  one-fifth 
of  the  entire  wealth  of  the  nation,  hold  twelve  billions  of 
dollars  worth  of  the  prosperity  in  their  hands  ;  a  solemn  trust 
— an  awful  responsibility.  How  can  they  best  save  their 
fortunes,  make  the  most  of  them  for  this  world  and  the  next, 
realize  now  the  largest  enjoyment  and  greatest  good  to  their 
souls,  and  in  the  world  to  come  higher  rank  and  life  everlasting? 
Strike  hands  with  Jesus  in  his  "compassion  for  the  multitude," 
be  in  touch  with  his  lofty  aims  and  purposes  in  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  to  every  creature  and  in  the  final  and  glorious 
consummation  of  his  everlasting  kingdom. 

"Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give  alms  ;  provide  bags  which 
wax  not  old,  a  treasure  in  the  heavens  that  faileth  not,  where 
no  thief  approacheth,  neither  moth  corrupteth  ;"  for  "they  that 
be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and 
they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as  the  stars  forever  and 
ever." 


r  ^f*  J 


REV.    G.    B.     BEECHER. 
1872-1879. 


REV.  F.   C.   MONFORT,  L).  D. 

1879-1888. 


REV.    HUGH    GILCHRIST. 

Present  Pastor. 


Pastors  oj  the  First  Presbyterian  Cliurcli^  Cincinnati ,  O. 


THE  CHURCH  AS  SUBJECT  TO  THE  CONTROL 

OF  THE  SESSION. 


By  Rev.  Frank  Granstaff. 


When  the  committee  wrote  me,  asking  me  to  speak  on  the 
topic  of  "The  Church  as  Subject  to  the  Control  of  the  Session," 
they  explained  that  the  idea  they  had  in  mind  was  to  combat 
the  notion,  somewhat  prevalent,  that  the  Sabbath-school  is 
something  separate  from  the  Church,  and  to  show  that  the 
Sabbath-sfhool  and  Church  are  one,  and  as  one,  subject  to  one 
central  control  ;  and  then  added  that  I  might  give  the  same 
thing  another  name,  if  I  saw  fit.  I  did  not  see  fit.  I  thought 
it  best  to  try  to  do  what  the  committee  asked  me  to  do,  and 
let  the  "name  of  the  thing"  take  care  of  itself. 

The  Sabbath-school  is  not  an  institution  separate  from  and 
independent  of  the  Church.  Neither  is  it  "a  church  within  the 
Church."  The  Sabbath-school  is  the  Church,  putting  forth  her 
energies  in  the  teaching  of  the  Word.  The  School  is  the 
Church  herself  in  that  particular  department.  The  Church 
does  not  delegate  her  authority  and  her  work  to  another,  and 
can  not  shift  the  responsibility.  The  authority  is  hers  ;  the 
work  is  hers;  the  responsibility  hers.  The  Sabbath-school 
exists  by  the  Church's  authority  ;  is  conducted  by  the  Church's 
activities ;  is  responsible  to  the  Church,  and  the  Church  is 
responsible  for  it.  The  Sabbath-school  and  the  Church  are  one 
in  the  sense  that  the  Sabbath-school  is  an  organic  and  vital  part 
of  the  Church. 

It  is  impossible  upon  any  theory  other  than  the  identity 
of  the  Church  and  the  School  to  justify  the  existence  of  the 
latter.  It  is  to  the  Church,  and  the  Church  alone,  that  the 
commission  is  given  to  disciple  all  nations.  And,  if  the  Sab- 
bath-school is  not  one  with  the  Church,  it  has  neither  part  nor 
place  in  the  work. 

But  we  believe  that  the  Church  and  School  are  one  : 

1.     They  are  one  in  origin. 


152  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTEMMAL. 

The  Sabbath-school  did  not  originate  with  Robert  Raikes 
in  1780.  Robert  Raikes  and  others  gave  a  new  form  simply 
to  the  work.  The  Sabbath-school,  in  its  essential  elements,  is 
as  old  as  the  Church  itself.  From  the  very  beginning  the  mis- 
sion of  the  Church  has  been  to  teach  as  well  as  preach. 

The  patriarchal  Church  was  a  Church  of  the  family,  and 
was  distinctively  a  school  of  religion — that  is,  a  teaching  of 
religion. 

The  Mosaic  economy  provided  for  assemblies  in  which  the 
whole  people  were  taught  the  law. 

Our  Savior  was  "a  teacher  sent  from  God."  His  disciples' 
as  the  name  indicates,  were  learners.  Christ  sometimes  preached, 
but  far  more  frequently  taught  the  gathered  multitudes. 

The  commission  to  the  Church  is  to  preach  and  to  teach. 

The  early  Church  recognized  the  necessity  of  thoroughly 
teaching  her  converts.  Mosheim,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History, 
says  :  "From  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  Church, 
schools  were  everywhere  erected  for  the  study  of  the  Scriptures." 

The  term  "Sabbath-school"  is  therefore  only  a  modern 
name  for  the  authority  to  teach,  given  to  the  Church  in  the 
beginning  and  exercised  by  the  Church  from  the  beginning. 

2.     The  Sabbath-school  and  the  Church  are  one  in  aim. 

The  great  purpose  for  which  the  Church  was  instituted 
and  for  which  it  exists  may  be  expressed  in  two  words — 
evangelization  and  instruction.  The  import  of  the  risen  Lord's 
command  to  his  Church,  "Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples 
of  all  nations — teaching  them  to  observe  whatsoever  things  I 
commanded  you,"  may  be  gathered  into  two  short  sentences  : 
Disciple  all  nations.  Teach  all  nations.  Man  needs  not  only 
to  be  converted,  but  also  to  be  instructed  in  righteousness.  To 
accomplish  this  is  the  mission  of  the  Church.  It  is  also  the 
mission  of  the  Sabbath-school.  The  work  of  the  Church  aside 
from  the  Sabbath-school  and  the  work  of  the  Church  in  the 
Sabbath-school  have  in  view  the  same  end.  The  modern 
Sabbath-school  is  one  of  the  great  means  in  the  hands  of  the 
Church  for  evangelization  of  the  masses  and  the  instruction  in 
righteousness  of  the  converted. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  153 

3.  The  Sabbath-school  and  the  Church  are  one  in  per- 
sonnel. 

The  recognized  definition  of  the  Sabbath-school,  by  our 
General  Assembly,  is  that  "it  is  the  Church" — not  the  children 
of  the  Church  or  the  young  of  the  Church,  but  the  Church — 
the  whole  Church,  "studying  and  teaching  the  Bible."  This 
definition  does  not  set  forth  the  actual,  but  the  ideal.  It  shows 
what  the  Sabbath-school  ought  to  be,  not  what  it  really  is. 

The  notion  is  ^videspread  that  the  Sabbath-school  is  the 
children's  Chuixh,  and  that  the  preaching  service  and  prayer- 
meeting  are  the  adults'  Church.  In  many  congregations,  the 
vast  majority  of  adults  are  never  found  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
and  very  few  of  the  children  are  ever  found  at  the  preaching 
service  and  in  the  prayer-meeting.  The  nursery  notion  of  the 
Sabbath-school  and  the  post-graduate  notion  of  the  other  public 
services  have  been  the  fruitful  cause  of  much  evil,  and  should 
be  abandoned  in  theory  and  m  practice.  The  Sabbath-school 
is  not  the  nursery  of  the  Church,  unless  the  whole  Church, 
young  and  old,  are  babies.  There  are  no  post-graduates.  All 
are  under-graduates.  None  ever  get  to  know  so  much  about 
the  Bible  that  they  can  not  possibly  learn  anything  more  about 
it.  God's  word  is  a  mine  of  truth  too  deep  and  too  rich  to  be 
exhausted  in  one  life-time,  however  long  that  life-time  may  be. 

The  Sabbath-school  is  the  school  of  the  Church,  and  should 
embrace  all  who  are  in  the  Church  or  of  the  Church.  The 
sheep  as  well  as  the  lambs  need  feeding,  and  the  lambs  as  w^ell 
as  the  sheep  ;  and  both  need  feeding  from  the  pulpit  and  in  the 
Sabbath-school.  The  Church  in  the  Sabbath-school,  and  the 
Sabbath-school  in  the  Church,  would  bring  both  nearer  Christ's 
perfect  ideal. 

The  Church  and  Sabbath-school,  being  one  in  origin,  one 
in  aim  and  one  in  personnel,  should  be  subject  to  the  same 
control. 

That  every  Christian  congregation  should  have  its  own 
denominational  school,  as  a  part  of  its  regular  equipment,  is 
no  longer  an  open  question.  The  denominational  school  is  now 
an  acknowledged  necessity  ;  and  denominational  schools  imply 
denominational  control. 


154  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

There  ought,  therefore,  to  be  no  debate  with  regard  to  the 
principles  that  should  operate  in  the  government  of  a  Presby- 
terian school.  The  school  of  a  Presbyterian  congregation 
should  be  under  the  direct  and  unequivocal  control  of  the 
session.  There  can  be  no  question  about  this,  if  we  recognize 
the  school  as  a  part  of  the  Church  ;  for  the  session  is  the  ruling 
body  (in  spiritual  matters)  of  the  individual  Church,  as  a 
whole  ;  and  the  school,  as  a  department  of  the  Church,  must, 
of  course,  come  under  the  watch  and  care  of  the  session.  The 
only  question  which  can  be  raised  is,  What  is  the  extent  of  the 
session's  authority  over  the  school  ? 

1.  The  authority  of  the  session  should  extend,  in  the  first 
place,  to  the  government  of  the  school. 

"The  Sabbath-school,"  as  Dr.  John  S.  Hart  says,  "is  not  a 
little  republic,  or  a  ward  meeting,  or  an  arena  for  exercising 
the  right  of  suffrage."  Neither  is  the  government  of  the 
session  in  the  Sabbath-school  an  autocracy.  The  Sabbath- 
school  should  be  neither  demoralized  by  making  its  offices  a 
bone  of  electioneering  contention  nor  crushed  by  having  the 
heavy  hand  of  despotism  laid  upon  it.  The  session  has  author- 
ity, but  not  absolute  authority. 

In  the  election  of  officers  and  the  appointment  of  teachers, 
the  session  should  recognize  the  courtesy  due  the  hard  workers 
of  the  school,  and  the  school  should  acknowledge  the  authority 
of  the  session.  Those  who  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  school  and 
teach  the  Word  should  do  so  by,  at  least,  the  consent  of 
the  constituted  authority  of  the  Church,  and  should  be  made 
to  feel  that  they  are  answerable  to  that  same  authority. 
When  the  annihilationist  and  the  perfectionist  and  the  believer 
in  the  so-called  higher  revelation  begin  to  ventilate  their 
unpresbyterian  and  unscriptural  opinions,  and  contradict  the 
utterances  of  the  pulpit,  it  is  the  business  of  the  session  to  call 
them  to  account. 

2.  The  authority  of  the  session  should  extend  also  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  school. 

It  is  the  duty  of  sessions  not  only  to  say,  who  shall  teach 
and  who  shall  not  teach,  but  also  to  say,  what  shall  be  taught 
and  what  shall  not  be  taught  in  the  schools  under  their  control. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  155 

It  is   theirs  to   see   that  those  who   teach  teach  nothing    but 
Presbyterian  doctrine. 

There  is,  in  some  minds,  a  prejudice  against  laying  stress 
upon  doctrine.  But  everything  must  be  taught  that  pertains  to 
vital  godliness.  And  doctrine  is  the  very  foundation  of  solid, 
stable  Christian  character.  There  is  no  being  save  in  the 
doing.  And  doing  is  the  result  of  believing.  Faith  and  practice 
go  together.  Conviction  must  underlie  conduct.  It  is  the 
man  who  believes  intensely  who  acts  with  earnestness.  Men 
must,  therefore,  be  taught  to  believe  something — at  least,  the 
Gospel.  And  what  are  doctrines  but  the  great  principles  of 
the  Gospel — the  momentous  truths  which  God  has  revealed  for- 
the  benefit  of  men  ?  Doctrine  must  be  taught,  if  anything  at 
all  is  taught  about  the  Scriptures. 

Of  course,  care  should  be  taken  to  teach  only  scriptural 
doctrine.  There  are  three  kinds  of  doctrine  adrift  :  There  is 
the  doctrine  of  modern  rationalism,  which  is  the  skin  of  truth 
stuffed  and  set  up.  If  such  doctrine  be  set  up  in  Presbyterian 
schools,  let  the  session  knock  it  down.  There  is  the  doctrine  of 
dead  philosophy,  which  is  the  skeleton  of  truth — truth  stripped 
to  the  bone.  If  this  doctrine  be  brought  into  the  school,  the 
session  should  have  it  carried  out  and  buried.  Then  there  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  which  is  truth  itself  in  living  form 
and  beauty.  Only  the  living  doctrine  of  the  living  Word 
should  be  taught. 

But  the  question  is,  shall  Presbyterian  doctrine  be  taught 
in  Presbyterian  Sabbath-schools?  Let  me  answer  this  question 
by  asking  another.  Is  there  any  good  reason  for  the  existence 
of  Presbyterian  doctrine?  The  best  answer  to  this  question 
may  be  found  in  the  answer  to  still  another  question.  Is  Pres- 
byterian doctrine  scriptural  doctrine?  We  believe  it  is.  Pres- 
byterian doctrine  has  therefore  good  reason  for  existence,  and 
also  good  reason  for  perpetuation.  For  this  reason  it  should 
be  taught  in  Presbyterian  Sabbath-schools. 

"But,"  says  one,  "if  you  teach  the  young  in  our  schools 
the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Presbyterianism,  you  will  foster 
bigotry."  This  objection  may  be  answered  by  the  fact,  that 
ignorance  is  not  a   cure  for  bigotry.     The  worst  bigots    are 


156  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

those  whose  ignorance  has  made  them  bigots.  The  yoiing 
mind  will  not  be  left  empty.  If  not  filled  with  "the  sifted 
wheat  of  truth,"  it  will  be  filled  spontaneously  with  "the  flying 
chaff'  of  all  kinds  of  error."  As  Coleridge's  garden,  which  he 
had  been  unwilling  to  prejudice  in  favor  of  flowers  and  fruits, 
was  filled  with  a  prolific  crop  of  evil  weeds  ;  so  the  mind, 
unprejudiced  in  favor  of  truth,  will  be  filled  with  error. 

The  strongest  objection  which  can  be  made  to  teaching 
Presbyterian  doctrine  in  Presbyterian  Sabbath-schools,  is  that, 
if  young  Presbyterians  are  taught  Presbyterian  doctrines,  they 
will  likely  grow  up  Presbyterians.  But  would  that  be  a  very 
great  misfortune  to  the  Church  and  the  world?  The  history 
of  our  Church  gives  answer. 

3.  Again,  the  authority  of  the  session  should  extend  to 
the  worship  of  the  school. 

And  there  is  occasion  in  some  quarters  for  the  exercise  of 
a  little  sessional  authority  along  this  line. 

There  is  in  our  schools  a  great  deal  of  sensuous  h^mnology 
which  would  better  be  discarded.  All  rhyme  is  not  poetry. 
All  singing  is  not  praise.     All  hymns  are  not  helpful  to  piety. 

Again,  in  some  schools  there  is  an  attempt  to  engraft  a 
species  of  liturgy  upon  our  simple  Presbyterian  worship.  This 
attempt,  if  ever  so  feeble,  the  session  should  not  only  discounte- 
nance, but  forbid.  We,  as  a  Church,  should  be  careful  neither 
to  make  Presbyterianism  inviting  to  ritualists  nor  to  train 
Presbyterians  for  ritualistic  Churches.  Purity,  spirituality, 
simplicity  are  the  underlying  elements  of  our  worship  ;  and  it 
is  the  privilege  and  duty  of  sessions  to  have  these  principles 
adhered  to  in  the  worship  of  Presbyterian  Sabbath-schools. 

If  we  are  Presbyterians  from  principle,  we  shall  readily 
grant  that  the  authority  of  the  session  in  the  school  covers 
Code,  Creed  and  Cultus  ;  that  is,  that  sessions  are  in  duty 
bound  to  make  Presbyterian  schools  Presbyterian  in  govern- 
ment, Presbyterian  in  doctrine,  Presbyterian  in  worship.  This 
is  a  Presbyterian  law.  I  have  not  been  dogmatizing,  but 
stating  Presbyterian  law  as  it  is  set  forth  in  our  Form  of 
Government  and  in  the  deliverances,  from  time  to  time,  of  our 
General  Assembly. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  157 

Let  me  say,  as  a  last  word,  that  the  relationship  of  the 
session  to  the  school  is  not  a  relationship  of  authority  alone, 
but  also  of  tender  solicitude  and  deep  sympathy, — a  solicitude 
and  sympathy  that  should  find  practical  forms  of  manifestation. 
Let  the  pastor  be  pastor  of  the  school.  Let  the  session  be 
identified  with  the  school  as  officers,  teachers,  or  scholars. 
Those  who  rule  must  rule  with  diligence.  It  is  always  better 
to  say  "come"  than  to  say  "go." 


BEGINNING  AT  JERUSALEM 


By  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  D.  D. 


I  see  on  the  program  that  I  am  assigned  the  topic,  "Be- 
ginning at  Jerusalem."  The  reference  I  presume  is  to  the  ex- 
piession  including  these  words  in  the  parting  commission  given 
to  our  Lord's  apostles  by  Himself.  The  preaching  of  repent- 
ance and  forgiveness  was  to  have  its  commencement  in  the  city 
where  He  had  Himself  received  His  deepest  humiliation  and 
where  He  had  been  put  to  death.  The  command  shows  infinite 
courage.  It  shows  that  religion  is  not  afraid  of  the  world  ; 
that  religion  confronts  its  enemies  in  their  proudest  organi- 
zations and  faces  all  the  accusations  and  arguments  which  they 
can  possibly  contrive  to  bring  against  it.  This  spirit  has  been 
shown  ever  since  by  the  people  of  God.  All  the  confessors 
have  been  called  martyrs.  All  the  followers  of  Jesus  have 
gone  among  the  enemies  of  Jesus  to  tell  the  story  of  His 
life  and  the  efficacy  of  His  blood  to  cleanse  the  world  from  all 
sin.  It  is  a  proverb  in  theological  literature  that  a  certain  one 
of  the  fathers  pronounced  himself  against  the  world.  This  is 
no  uncommon  sentiment  however  heroic  it  may  seem  to  be. 

Beginning  at  Jerusalem  was  really  the  fulfillment  of  the 
old  time  expectation  and  prophecy,  implied  in  the  address  to 
the  people  of  Jerusalem,  in  which  the  apostle  says  :  "Unto  you 
first  God  hath  raised  up  Christ  to  bless  you  and  your  children." 


158  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

Jerusalem  was  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  ministry.  It 
was  a  kind  of  religious  capital,  a  centre  from  which  those  who 
choose  to  do  it  w^ould  take  the  gospel  among  the  dispersed  of 
the  Gentiles.  Thus  in  Asia  and  in  Africa  and  elsewhere  were 
easily  received  from  Jerusalem  the  representatives  of  the 
scheme  of  salvation. 

Of  course  those  who  would  go  to  Jerusalem  would  en- 
counter peculiar  difficulties.  I  spoke  of  courage  necessary  to 
the  Christian  at  Jerusalem,  but  there  were  difficulties  of  another 
kind.  The  scribes  were  there  ;  the  Pharisees  were  there  ;  the 
Priesthood  was  there  :  the  Temple  ritual  was  there,  and  it  was 
known  that  the  ultimate  origin  of  all  these  was  revelation, 
divine  revelation.  They  had  come  from  God.  And  now  who- 
ever spoke  of  the  resurrection  of  the  son  of  God  must  confront 
all  that  hoary  antiquity. 

That  is  about  as  far  back  as  my  reminiscenses  of  Jerusalem 
permit  me  to  go  this  morning.  I  will  pass  from  this  to  say 
that  when  Presbyterianism  entered  Cincinnati,  it  encountered  a 
Jerusalem.  There  were  peculiar  difficulties  attending  the  com- 
mencement of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  this  city.  Some 
have  been  referred  to  in  various  addresses  to  which  we  have 
listened ;  the  unsettled  condition  of  society ;  the  rights  of 
property  were  undefined  ;  the  savage  was  here,  and  the  temper 
of  savage  warfare  had  been  communicated  to  the  opposing 
parties,  and  they  would  not  hear  the  still  small  voice,  nor  the 
suggestions  of  peace,  nor  the  instruction  that  taught  sobriety 
and  meekness  and  the  ruling  of  one's  spirit.  Besides  the 
soldiers  were  here.  They  had  an  element  of  special  difficulty. 
Many  of  the  soldiers  were  drunkards.  On  this  very  half 
square  to  the  north  of  us  stood  the  court  house.  The  soldiers 
filled  the  court  house  here  and  one  night  it  was  burned  and  all 
the  records  were  destroyed.  The  drunken  soldier  away  from 
home,  away  from  the  restraints  of  his  own  fireside  is  a  very 
ferocious  element  of  society,  very  difficult  to  reach,  very  diffi- 
cult to  handle. 

Then  there  was  another  difficulty  referred  to  in  one  of  the 
addresses  yesterday.  French  infidelity  had  come  over  to 
America,  wafted  on  the  breezes  of  popular  liberty.    Connected 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  159 

by  the  recent  effort  of  the  people  to  establish  themselves  in 
their  own  freedom,  so  that  the  civil  freedom  was  connected 
with  license,  immorality  and  profanity.  These  had  come  to 
America.  They  reached  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  and  Ken- 
tucky dominated  all  this  region.  Kentucky  emerged  to  better 
conditions  of  society  more  rapidly  than  on  this  side  of  the 
river,  but  the  polish,  culture  and  refinement  of  the  people  of 
Kentucky  were  all  infidel.  All  this  region  were  so  aflfected  by 
French  infidelity  that  the  people  were  bordering  close  upon 
atheism.  This  had  to  be  confronted.  Beginning  here  the 
ministry  must  be  well  armed  against  the  immoralities  and 
license  due  to  the  unsettled  condition  of  society.  They  must 
have  extensive  information.  They  had  to  be  organized  and 
vigilant.  Nothing  short  of  this  would  suffice.  But  the  diffi- 
culties were  very  great. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  that  Agamemnon  among  men, 
Joshua  Wilson.  I  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  some  of  his 
correspondence  in  which  he  depicted  the  scenes  he  had  wit- 
nessed and  the  society  with  which  he  came  in  contact.  You 
would  suppose  from  the  religious  courage  which  his  sermons 
disclose  that  nothing  could  discourage  him  or  intimidate  him  ; 
but  I  have  seen  in  his  own  handwriting  that  he  was  so  dis- 
couraged concerning  the  work  he  thought  of  studying  medi- 
cine, and  that  he  engaged  with  a  friejid  to  come  here  to  be  his 
instructor  in  that  profession.  This  will  serve  to  give  us  an 
idea  of  those  early  days. 

Allow  me  to  speak  of  things  more  or  less  personal.  Ref- 
erence has  been  made  to  the  installation  of  Rev.  David  Rice. 
I  never  saw  Dr.  Rice,  but  my  children  are  connected  with  him 
in  blood  and  I  have  been  familiar  with  his  missionary  zeal  and 
soundness  in  the  faith,  and  I  felt  a  kind  of  personal  interest  in 
his  affairs.  I  felt  as  if  I  had  been  in  a  very  distinct  sense  a 
participant  in  those  affairs. 

I  will  begin  at  Jerusalem  in  my  recollection  on  this  very 
soil.  I  will  tell  you  something  about  this  old  lot.  I  am  very 
familiar  with  the  old  lot,  for  it  was  the  play-ground  of  my 
childhood.  There  was  an  iron  gate  on  Main  street  and  one 
also  on  Fourth  street.     The  gate  on  Fourth  street  had  stone 


160  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

pillars.  Through  the  Fourth  street  gate  you  passed  to  a  twb- 
story  frame  house.  A  low  stone  wall  ran  along  the  lot  with  an 
opening  on  the  street  on  the  corner  of  the  lot,  immediately 
next  to  where  the  college  ground  begins.  There  was  a  small 
frame  building  in  it,  in  which  a  Catholic  priest  taught  a  boy's 
school.  A  number  of  respectable  families  patronized  this 
school.  The  day  came  when  the  church  felt  disposed  to  make 
improvements  of  their  grounds.  On  the  lot  was  built  a  frame 
cottage  for  the  sexton  and  occupied  by  him.  It  was  a  favorite 
resort  for  thirsty  boys  who  wanted  a  drink  during  Sunday- 
school  hours.  We  could  always  get  a  good  drink  at  the  sex- 
ton's house. 

When  they  got  ready  to  build  on  the  Fourth  street  front, 
the  school  kept  by  the  Catholic  priest  was  discontinued  and 
the  building  was  taken  away.  A  building  was  put  up  for  the 
pastor  which  he  occupied  some  time.  His  original  residence 
was  on  Elm  street,  below  Fourth,  and  subsequently  he  returned 
to  his  own  property  which  I  see  is  still  standing.  The  building 
which  the  pastor  occupied  on  Fourth  street  was  rented  after  he 
left  it,  and  it  thus  became  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  church. 

The  church  building  at  the  time  faced  on  Main  street.  The 
church  was  a  building  with  three  aisles  running  east  and  west 
crossed  by  one  at  each  end.  The  pews  next  to  the  wall  were 
box  pews.  The  box  pew  next  the  gate,  or  the  north  end  of 
the  Fourth  street  aisle,  was  occupied  by  the  Lytle  family.  I 
have  seen  Gen.  Jackson  and' Gen.  Lytle  sitting  together  in  that 
pew. 

The  church  had  a  large  building  in  the  rear,  an  apse  of 
unusual  size.  The  lower  room,  called  the  vestry  room,  had  a 
door  opening  toward  Fourth  street.  The  other  room  was 
furnished  with  pews  and  had  a  gallery  for  colored  people.  It 
was  sometimes  well  filled.  Sometimes  the  social  nature  of  the 
colored  people  induced  them  to  talk  too  much  and  the  Doctor 
would  turn  with  a  glance  and  wave  of  his  finger  at  them  to 
cause  them  to  be  quiet.  On  one  occasion  he  drove  them  all  out. 

About  the  beginning  of  1829  the  Church  was  overhauled, 
and  then  were  laid  those  red  carpets  of  which  you  have  heard. 
The   colored  gallery  was  closed  up,  and  the  apse  was  turned 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  161 

into  a  three-story  structure,  The  pulpit  was  put  in  the  body 
of  the  Church.  It  was  very  high  and  reached  by  a  winding 
stair,  which  in  times  of  revival,  was  crowded  clear  up  to  the 
pulpit  seats.  Above  the  pulpit  was  a  sinall  framework,  on  one 
panel  of  which  was  represented  a  flying  angel  bearing  a 
trumpet  and  proclaiming  the  everlasting  Gospel.  This  common 
symbol  caused  a  most  uncommon  excitement.  We  had  been 
taught  the  great  wickedness  of  pictures  and  images,  and  here 
was  an  image  right  in  the  sanctuary.  It  made  an  excitement 
which  lasted  for  several  months,  till  they  were  induced  and 
almost  constrained  to  remove  the  offending  panel. 

Dr.  Wilson  was  a  man  endowed  with  a  most  remarkable 
amount  of  physical  energy.  He  preached  morning,  afternoon 
and  evening.  He  did  not  do  very  much  pastoral  visiting,  but 
he  did  a  considerable  amount  of  catechising  of  the  young.  He 
was  a  man  of  many  striking  and  singular  peculiarities.  For 
instance,  he  very  much  objected  to  window  curtains.  He  said 
we  pay  a  builder  to  make  a  hole  in  our  house  to  let  the  light 
in,  and  then  pay  an  upholsterer  to  shut  the  light  out. 

At  the  time  Alexander  Campbell  and  Robert  J.  Owen 
were  both  in  Cincinnati,  he  was  heard  to  say,  "Which  was  the 
worst  for  religion  and  for  the  world,  a  good  bad  man  or  a  bad 
good  man  ?" 

Dr.  Wilson's  sermons  were  not  often  over  an  hour  in 
length,  and  the  whole  service  not  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half. 

He  was  never  tedious  or  wearisome.  I  think  I  never 
knew  any  one  to  say  that  he  thought  the  sermon  was  too  long 
for  comfort.  There  was  a  wonderful  impressiveness  in  the 
man.  He  had  a  majestic  voice  for  either  oratory  or  singing. 
He  was  quite  original  too'in  the  matter  of  music.  He  was  one 
of  those  who  believed  in  music.  He  did  not  believe  that  the 
devil  should  have  all  the  good  tunes.  I  have  heard  him  sing 
a  hymn  to  the  tune  of  the  organ,  many  a  time. 

Those  days  called  for  men  of  strong  character,  and  such  a 
man  was  Dr.  Wilson.  He  was  not  the  pastor  of  the  Church, 
but  the  stated  supply  for  perhaps  three  years  of  his  ministry. 
In  the  early  history  of  the  First  Church,  a  difficulty  had  taken 
place  between  the  pastor  and  people,  and   it  was  resolved  by 


162  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

the  Church  that  they  would  never  have  another  settled  pastor ; 
and  so  they  elected  the  pastor  from  year  to  year.  The  occasion 
of  the  final  installation  of  Dr.  Wilson  was  the  controversy 
between  the  old  school  and  the  new  school.  One  of  the  objec- 
tions which  he  urged  against  the  new  school  was,  that  they  did 
not  show  respect  to  the  permanency  of  the  state  in  not  having  a 
settled  ministry.  When  some  one  made  the  discovery  and 
promptly  retorted  on  the  Doctor,  that  he  himself  was  not  a 
pastor.  Thereupon  legal  counsel  was  taken  and  it  was  deter- 
mined that  he  should  be  installed  as  pastor.  I  very  well 
remember  the  day.  I  recall  the  service  very  w^ell  and  the 
music  that  was  sung.  The  service  was  very  impressive,  but  as 
I  thought  at  the  time,  very  cold.  In  the  sermon  there  was  a 
lack  of  unction.  In  my  young  days,  there  was  a  disposition,  I 
thought,  to  place  more  emphasis  on  form  than  upon  the  feeling 
and  upon  unction.  Dr.  Wilson  did  a  great  thing  for  Cincinnati 
and  for  the  Ohio  Valley.  He  did  much  in  the  way  of  moulding 
public  sentiment  in  all  this  region. 

We  must  not  consider,  however,  that  Jerusalem  was  con- 
fined to  the  First  Church,  or  that  Presbyterianism  was  confined 
to  the  First  Church  ;  and  if  we  represent  the  centennial  of  the 
Ohio  Valley,  we  must  take  leave  of  the  First  Church.  We 
can  do  this  very  readily.  One  of  the  names  among  the  many 
leaders  was  Rev.  James  Clark.  He  was  a  teacher  at  a  school 
on  Walnut  street,  and  at  the  same  time  he  prosecuted  his 
theological  studies  till  he  entered  the  ministry.  Soon  after  he 
entered  the  ministry,  he  betook  himself  to  the  west  and  the 
northwest.  He  went  to  Fort  Wayne  and  there  he  established 
the  first  Presbyterian  Church,  and  that  is  one  of  the  offshoots 
of  this  Church.  ■» 

Another  name  was  that  of  Benjamin  Graves.  He  was  a 
son  of  this  Church.  When  the  apse  of  the  Church  was  erected 
with  the  outside  staircase,  the  Sunday-school  was  held  here — 
the  boys  down  below  and  the  girls  above  in  the  third  story  of 
the  building.  One  Sabbath,  when  I  was  in  attendance  at  the 
Sunday-school,  a  minister  was  introduced  to  us  as  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Graves.  I  very  well  remember  his  appearance.  I 
very  well    remember  some   slight    tremor    of    his    voice  with 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  163 

which  he  related  some  chapters  of  his  personal  history.  "Nine 
years  ago,"  said  he,  "I  sat  among  you  boys.  I  was  a  pupil  in 
this  Sabbath-school.  It  seems  to  me  something  wonderful 
that  such  a  thing  should  take  place."  That  man  evinced  in 
his  ministrations  no  small  ability.  I  recall  what  little  I  knew 
of  him  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure. 

Various  ministers  have  gone  from  this  congregation  whose 
names  I  can  not  well  remember,  but  I  recall  that  in  a  meeting 
of  Synod,  Dr.  Wilson  took  occasion  to  make  a  remark  at  the 
time  of  the  great  revival,  that  he  had  been  considerably 
exercised  in  regard  to  many  of  the  methods  that  were  employed, 
and  felt  considerable  doubt  in  regard  to  the  genuineness,  the 
depth  and  the  permanence  of  the  work.  "But,"  he  said,  "when 
I  look  around  on  this  body,  and  see  that  a  large  majority  of  it 
is  the  fruits  of  this  revival,  I  feel  myself  silenced."  Undoubtedly 
in  the  history  of  Presbyterianism  of  this  city,  the  great  revival 
of  1827  to  1830  (for  it  lasted  three  or  four  years)  exercised  a 
very  great  influence.  I  remember  that  during  that  revival  the 
First  Church  and  the  Second  Church  v^orshiped  together.  I 
recollect  the  Second  Church  was  a  frame  building,  where  I 
heard  the  preaching  of  Daniel  Roots.  That  sermon  induced 
me  to  examine  myself  in  regard  to  the  grounds  of  my  faith.  I 
also  remember,  at  the  time  of  the  revival,  that  the  bell  would 
ring  about  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  merchants 
down  on  Main  street  would  close  their  doors  to  allow  their 
clerks  to  go  to  Church,  which  many  of  them  did. 

At  the  end  of  the  revival  there  were  established  the 
American  Sunday-school  Union,  the  Bible  Society,  the  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society. 

The  next  great  event  that  affected  the  interest  of  religion 
was  the  installation  of  the  theological  faculty  of  Lane  Seminary. 

The  coming  of  Calvin  E.  Stowe  and  Lyman  Beecher  gave 
the  people  new  ideas  of  religion.  The  question  of  education 
was  discussed,  and  the  influence  exerted  by  those  men  was 
great  upon  our  public  schools.  They  exercised  a  great  influence 
upon  this  whole  neighborhood.  Lectures  becanle  common  and 
newspapers  were  very  minute  in  their  details  of  what  occurred 
in  the  religious  world.     It  was  a  new  thing  for  daily  papers  to 


164  '       PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

mention  such  things.  At  the  time  of  the  great  Montgomefy 
camp-meeeting,  no  paper  in  the  city  mentioned  its  occurrence. 
This  camp-meeting  was  one  of  the  greatest  events  of  the  time. 
The  Churches  in  the  neighborhood  were  overwhehned  with 
inquirers  after  the  way  of  salvation. 

Several  of  the  Churches  held  meetings  in  the  grove.  They 
were  Presbyterian  meetings,  although  camp-meetings.  There 
was  nothing  loose  or  unsettled  about  them.  They  were  con- 
ducted without  excitement  and  with  the  best  of  Gospel  preach- 
ing, and  members  were  received  in  due  form. 

As  you  heard  yesterday,  Presbyterianism  was  not  confined 
to  church  walls  nor  to  ecclesiastical  institutions  exclusively- 
Miami  University  has  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  history 
of  Presbyterianism  in  this  valley.  The  little  time  I  was  a 
student  there  in  the  preparatory  department,  it  was  the  usual 
exercise  on  Sabbath  afternoons  for  the  students  to  be  called 
together,  and  all  of  them  recite  some  parts  of  Scripture.  I 
recall  having  assigned  to  me  some  portions  of  the  hundred  and 
nineteenth  Psalm. 

I  do  not  think  of  anything  else  to  say  so  far  as  my  recol- 
lections are  concerned.  I  was  too  young  to  have  any  influence. 
We  had  no  set  lessons  in  the  Sabbath-school,  except  that  of 
memorizing  the  Scripture.  I  have  in  my  possession  a  medal 
made  of  a  silver  half»dollar  given  me  in  the  year  1826.  When 
I  contemplated  coming  to  this  Centennial,  I  thought  of  bring- 
ing that  medal  along  with  me,  but  in  packing  my  valise,  I 
carelessly  left  it  behind. 

I  believe,  unless  somebody  wants  to  ask  me  some  questions, 
I  will  bring  my  remarks  to  a  close. 


FIRST    PRESDVTERIAN    CHURCH,  CINCIiXNATI.  O. 

Tliird  House  of  Worship,  erectfd  1851. 


The  Children  of  the  First  Church. 


PAPER      READ      AT      THE      PRESBYTERIAN       CENTENNIAL      FIRST 

CHURCH,  CINCINNATI,   BY    REV.    JOHN   J.   FRANCIS,  D.D., 

PASTOR    OF    THE     CENTRAL     PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCH     OF     CINCINNATI. 


It  is  not  my  purpose  to  traverse  any  further  than  the 
nature  of  the  case  may  require  the  ground  covered  by  the 
opening  paper  by  Dr.  Monfort,  on  the  "  History  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,"  although  the  present  subject  is  neces- 
sarily included  in  the  former.  There  is  no  more  important  or 
more  interesting  portion  of  the  history  of  this  old  "Mother- 
Church"  than  that  which  relates  to  her  numerous  offspring. 
The  children  are  the  joy  and  the  pride  of  the  parent,  and  this 
noble  old  "mother  of  churches"  may  well  say,  in  the  language 
of  the  aged  Apostle  John,  "I  have  no  greater  joy  than  to  hear 
that  my  children  walk  in  truth." — [iii.  John,  4th  vs.] 

"Beginning  at  Jerusalem,"  we  are  to  trace,  in  the  various 
addresses  of  this  morning,  that  tendency  to  growth  and  expan- 
sion, or  multiplication  of  influence  and  organization,  which 
has  been  characteristic  of  the  Church  since  its  establishment, 
when  its  future  development  in  ever-widening  circles  was 
outlined  by  the  Savior  in  his  declaration  to  the  disciples,  "Ye 
shall  be  witnesses  to  me  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judea, 
and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth." 

The  subject  suggests  to  us,  by  the  very  terms  in  which  it 
is  expressed,  its  method  of  treatment,  as  that  of  a  "Family 
History,"  especially  in  tracing  the  relationship  of  the  numer- 
ous households  of  Presbyterian  faith  in  this  city  to  the  vener- 
able parent-church  which  began  its  ecclesiastical  life  here  one 
hundred  years  ago  to-day. 


166  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

The  history  of  this  parent-church  has  already  been  pre- 
sented, and,  at  all  events  (as  I  have  said  before),  does  not  come 
within  the  scope  of  our  present  theme.  Neither  is  it  our 
province  to  recount  the  independent  histories  in  detail,  even  of 
those  Churches  w^hich  are  the  immediate  descendants  of  the 
First  Church,  except  so  far  as  their  connection  with  the  First 
Church  as  her  "children"  is  concerned. 

Our  present  interest  in  any  of  our  Churches  is  along  the 
line  of  such  questions  as  these  : — Is  the  Church  a  "child"  or  a 
♦'lineal  descendant"  of  the  First  Church?  What  causes  led  to 
its  establishment?  When  and  w^ith  how^  many  members  was 
it  organized,  and  how  many  of  these  members  were  members 
of  the  First  Church?     And  what  have  been  the  results? 

The  second  of  these  questions  (viz.  as  to  the  causes  leading 
to  the  establishment  of  the  different  Churches)  is,  in  some 
cases,  a  delicate  one  ;  and  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  press  it  to 
any  considerable  extent.  As  in  domestic  affairs  and  home-life 
generally,  so  in  ecclesiastical  family  experience,  things  now  and 
then  occur,  difficulties  occasionally  arise,  which  should  not  be 
paraded  too  publicly  before  the  world.  Yet,  it  is  well  also  to 
remember  that  even  where  internal  differences  have  existed, 
although  so  serious  perhaps  as  to  result  in  separation,  they  have 
not  been  unmixed  evils,  since  they  have  led  to  the  establishment 
of  new  and  important  centres  of  beneficent  Christian  influence 
and  work.  Subsequent  history  has  shown  that  (to  change  the 
figure  for  a  moment)  it  was  sometimes  well  that  this  old  eagle 
did  "stir  up  her  nest"  and  push  her  young  eagles  out  to  try 
their  wings  in  independent  flight. 

In  a  general  way,  I  presume,  all  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
of  the  city  (and  a  few  of  other  denominations)  may  be  regarded 
as  having  sprung  from  the  original  sowing  of  the  Gospel  in 
this  region,  which  had  its  first  ecclesiastical  fruit  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  First  and  Pleasant  Ridge  Churches.  Many  of 
our  Churches,  however,  such  as  Mount  Auburn,  Clifton,  Avon- 
dale,  the  Fourth  Church,  and  others,  have  no  direct  connection, 
as  to  organization,  with  either  of  these  Churches,  but  came  into 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  ♦       167 

existence  by  virtue  of  local  interests  and  influences  and  neces- 
sities, and  were  made  up  of  materials  on  the  ground,  the 
original  members  being  connected  with  various  Churches. 

With  these  this  paper  has  nothing  directly  to  do.  Our 
subject  has  reference  only  to  the  "Children  of  the  First 
Church,"  by  which  we  may  properly  understand  the  Colonies 
sent  forth  from  time  to  time  by  the  First  Church,  and  the 
Colonies  sent  forth  in  turn  by  these — those  of  the  latter  class 
being  the  "Grand-children"  of  the  First  Church  by  direct 
descent. 

I.    THE  CHILDREN. 

We  will  refer  to  them  briefly  in  the  order  of  their  organ- 
ization, using  the  terms  father  and  mother,  or  son  and  daughter 
somewhat  interchangeably,  as  may  seem  most  fitting. 

1.    Second  Presbyterian  Cliurch. 

The  first  of  a  numerous  and  thrifty  progeny  to  leave  the 
old  home  and  "set  up  house-keeping"  for  herself,  for  which 
(either  because  of  her  native  talent,  or  the  training  which  she 
received  at  the  hands  of  her  then  young  and  vigorous  mother,) 
she  has  shown  herself  so  well  qualified,  was  the  "Second 
Presbyterian  Church."  A  stately  and  accomplished  daugh- 
ter she  has  been  in  the  past,  and  stately,  cultured  and  efficient* 
at  the  age  of  more  than  "t,hree-score  years  and  ten,"  she  still 
is  the  pride  of  her  mother  and  the  admiration  of  her  younger 
brothers  and  sisters  and  cousins. 

The  new  organization  was  not  effected  without  a  struggle, 
which  continued  for  three  years.  The  first  reference  to  it 
prospectively  is  in  a  letter  (in  the  records  of  the  First  Church) 
dated  April  3d,  1814,  signed  by  Charles  Greene  and  John 
Kelso,  stating  that  part  of  the  congregation  of  the  First 
Church  met  at  the  house  of  John  Kelso,  and  were  unanimously 
of  opinion  that,  considering  the  state  of  said  Church,  it  was 
their  duty  to  separate  and  form  a  Church  to  be  denominated 
the  "Second  Presbyterian  Church."  This  letter  was  followed 
by  a  second   letter  signed   by  the   same   persons,  and  by  John 


168        ,  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

Newhouse,  Ichabod  Spinning  and  Samuel  Lowry  to  the  same 
effect.  Later,  a  communication  in  the  form  of  a  petition  for  a 
new  organization,  signed  by  seventeen  persons,  was  presented 
to  the  session.  The  session  refused  to  grant  the  petition.  The 
matter  was  then  carried  by  appeal  to  the  Miami  Presbytery  in 
1814.  The  Presbytery  decided  that  the  session  was  not  a  proper 
tribunal  for  the  decision  of  such  a  question,  as  they  were  per- 
sonally interested,  and  Presbytery  thereupon  granted  the  request 
for  an  organization.  The  First  Church  carried  the  matter  to 
Synod,  and  the  Synod  reversed  the  action  of  Presbytery.  The 
petitioners,  however,  were  determined  in  their  purpose,  and  on 
January  29,  1816,  a  partial  organization  was  effected  by  eleven 
members  of  the  First  Church  ;  and  on  July  10,  1817,  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  was  fully  organized  by  Miami 
Presbytery,  four  elders  being  elected.  A  small  frame  Church 
was  built  in  1818,  on  the  east  side  of  Walnut  Street,  above  Fifth, 
where  the  congregation  continued  to  worship  until  1830, 
when  they  removed  to  the  brick  Church  on  Fourth  Street, 
between  Vine  and  Race.  The  records  of  the  First  Church  show 
the  singular  fact  that  on  Sept.  20,  1826,  (nine  years  after  the 
organization)  the  session  of  the  First  Church  received  a  com- 
munication from  the  Second  Church  stating  the  wish  of  "a 
large  majority"  of  their  people  to  "reunite  with  the  First 
Church,"  and  requesting  the  session  of  the  First  Church  to 
unite  with  them  to  obtain  such  leave  from  Presbytery.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  First  Church,  called  to  consider 
this  proposal,  it  was  rejected.  The  total  enrollment  of  the 
Second  Church,  since  the  organization  to  the  present  time,  has 
been  about  2,500.  The  present  membership  is  504.  The 
Church  is  now  without  a  pastor,  but  has  been  statedly  supplied 
during  the  past  year  with  the  best  of  preaching  by  Prof.  Wil- 
liam H.  Roberts,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  in  Lane  Seminary, 
and  stated  clerk  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  at  present  by 
Rev.  D.  S.  Gregory,  D.D.,  of  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

2.    Third  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  second  of  the  daughters  of  the   First  Church   to   go 
forth  to  a  long  life  of  remarkable  activity  and  fruitfulness   in 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  169 

the  service  of  Christ  in  the  city  Vas  the  "Third  Presbyterian 
Church,"  a  child  begotten  of  the  revival  of  1828-9,  and 
destined  to  grow^  under  continued  revival  influences  to  large^ 
proportions  than  any  other  member  of  the  family,  and  to  occupy 
faithfully  to  this  day,  in  her  sixty-second  year,  one  of  the 
important   fields  of  the  city. 

The  first  and  only  i-ecord  to  which  I  have  had  access,  on 
the  first  page  of  the  minutes  of  session  of  the  Third  Church, 
is  unusually  clear  and  full.  "Pursuant  to  previous  notice  given, 
a  meeting  of  a  number  of  persons  desiring  to  be  organized  as 
a  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  cityvras  held  in  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  January  22,  1829.  The  Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  D.D., 
(then  pastor  of  the  First  Church)  was  Moderator  of  the  meet- 
ing, and  John  Mahard,  Sr.,  was  appointed  Secretary.  The 
meeting  was  opened  by  the  Moderator  with  singing  and  prayer, 
after  which  the  following  (59)  persons  presented  certificates 
of  dismission  from  other  branches  of  the  Church,  and  were 
constituted  a  distinct  Church,  to  be  denominated  the  "Third 
Presbyterian  Society  of  Cincinnati.  (Then  follow  the 
names  of  the  fifty-nine  persons,  forty-six  of  whom  came  from 
the  First  Church).  The  persons  present  then  proceeded  to 
elect  three  persons  to  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder  in  this  society, 
whereupon  Jabez  C.  Tunis,  Nathan  Baker  and  Robert  Boal, 
Sr.,  were  duly  elected.  The  Society  v^as  further  organized  by 
the  election  of  seven  trustees  and  a  treasurer  and  clerk.  The 
meeting  v^^as  then  closed  by  singing  and  prayer."  This  appears 
to  have  been  done  by  direction  of  Presbytery.  The  organiza- 
tion was  the  result  of  the  revival  labors  of  Rev.  James  Gal- 
laher,  who  became  its  first  pastor. 

The  growth  of  the  new  church  was  remarkable.  From  the 
organization,  January  22nd,  1829,  to  April,  1832,  (three  years 
and  three  months),  416  members,  besides  the  59  charter  mem- 
bers, were  received  into  the  church,  231  of  these  in  a  single 
year.  The  total  enrollment  since  organization  has  been  about 
5,000,  of  w^hom  3,500  have  been  upon  confession  of  their  faith. 
The  present  membership  is  491,  and  Rev.  James  M.  Simonton, 
of  Middletown,  Ohio,  has  just  been  called  to  the  pastorate. 


170  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

3.    (Old)  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  next  child  in  order  born  also  of  the  revival  of  1828-9 
must,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  have  been  the  old  Fourth 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  I  think  must  either  be  identi- 
fied as  the  old  "Fulton  Church"  or  more  probably  as  the  lost 
since  defunct,  "High  Street  Church."  I  have  not  been  able  to 
ascertain  its  history,,  but  find  from  the  Records  of  Presbytery 
that  a  church  called  the  "High  Street  Church"  was  enrolled  by 
Presbytery  (many  years  later)  on  October  7th,  1846  ;  the  name 
afterward  changed,  September  6th,  1854,  to  the  Fourth  Pres- 
byterian Church  ;  and  under  the  name  of  the  "Fourth  Church," 
dissolved  by  act  of  Presbytery,  April  26th,  1859.  I  have 
thought  it  probable  that  this  was  the  successor,  at  least,  of  the 
original  Fourth  Church.  At  all  events,  the  church  has  long 
been  out  of  existence. 

4.     Fifth  Presbyterian  Church. 

About  all  that  I  learn  as  to  the  early  history  of  the  Fifth 
Presbyterian  Church  is  that  it  was  organized  (as  the  official 
records  of  Presbytery  plainly  state)  under  the  order  of  Pres- 
bytery by  Rev.  Mr.  Stark,  with  ten  members,  on  March  29th, 
1831,  and  according  to  the  most  reliable  authorities  was  a 
direct  offspring  of  the  First  Church,  being  the  fourth  child  of 
its  fruitful  mother.  It  has  done  and  is  still  doing  a  noble  work. 
It  was  for  a  long  time  popularly  known  as  "  The  Scotch 
Church."  It  long  ago  purchased  and  has  ever  since  occupied  the 
brick  "Tabernacle,"  erected  by  the  now  disbanded  Tabernacle 
Church  on  the  corner  of  Clark  and  John  streets.  The  total 
enrollment  may  be  safely  estimated  at  1,500  (probably  many 
hundreds  more).  The  present  membership  is  342,  and  the 
present  pastor.  Rev.  Frank  Granstaff". 

5.    Vine  Street  Congregational  Church. 
(Formerly  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church.) 

Only  a  few  days  later  the  Presbytery  led  forth  a  fifth  child 
from  the  maternal  mansion  and  established  her  in  a  new  home 
on  the  south-east  corner  of  Sixth  and  Vine  streets,  giving  her 
at  her  own  request  the  name  of  the  "  Sixth  Presbyterian 
Church,"  which  name  she  bore  for  fifteen  years   (until  1846), 


PRKSBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  171 

since  which  time  she  has  been  known  by  her  choice  and  the 
authority  of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  as  the  Vine  Street 
Congregational  Church  ;  doing  under  both  names  a  noble 
work  for  Christ  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  the  former  name  being 
afterwards  given,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  to  one  of  the  grand- 
children of  the  parent-church.  The  story  of  the  organization 
is  briefly  given  in  the  "Manual  of  the  Vine  Street  Congre- 
gational Church,"  kindly  given  me  by  Dr.  J.  P.  Walker.  "On 
April  5th,  1831,  several  members  (twenty  names  are  after- 
wards given)  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  petitioned  the 
Cincinnati  Presbytery,  then  in  session  at  New  Richmond, 
Ohio,  to  be  set  off",  and  with  others  organized  into  a  church  to 
be  known  as  the  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cincinnati. 
The  request  was  granted,  and  Revs.  Elijah  Slack  and  Ralph 
Cushman  were  appointed  a  committee  to  attend  to  their  re- 
quest. They  were  accordingly  organized  in  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Cincinnati,  on  Fourth  Street,  between  Main 
and  Walnut,  April  9th,  1831,  with  the  name  as  requested  by 
the  petitioners. 

The  cause  which  originated  this  church  movement  was 
pulpit  defense  of  'American  Slavery,'  drawn  from  the  Bible, 
and  denunciation  of  those  who  agitated  the  subject  of  eman- 
cipation. The  change  of  name  to  '  Vine  Street  Congrega- 
tional Church '  was  made  under  a  Legislative  Act  of  Feb- 
uary  28th,  1846.  On  the  10th  of  November,  1846,  the  church 
voted  unanimously  to  change  its  ecclesiastical  connection  and 
adopt  the  congregational  form  of  government.  The  with- 
drawal from  the  Presbytery  was  accomplished  in  the  usual 
manner." 

Up  to  1878  the  number  of  additions  to  the  church  num- 
bered 1,400,  to  which  we  may  safely  add  for  the  subsequent 
twelve  years  300  more,  making  a  total  enrollment  since  or- 
ganization  of  1,700.     The   present  membership  is ,  and 

the  present  pastor,  Rev.  William  H.  Warren. 

6.    Central  Presbyterian  Cliurcli. 

The  fourth  child  of  the  First  Church  I  think  we  may  call 
a  son,  because  of  the  remarkable  vigor  and  virility  with  which 


172  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

it  bounded  into  existence  ;  or,  if  a  daughter,  she  was  certainly 
of  the  type  of  Minerva,  springing  full-armed  from  the  cloven 
brovs^  of  Jupiter.  I  refer  to  the  Central  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  Central  Church  vv^as  organized  in  part  from  a 
desire  to  carry  the  gospel  into  the  growing  western  portion  of 
the  city,  and  in  part,  I  think,  from  a  desire  on  the  part  of  a 
number  to  strengthen  the  cause  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  city 
by  securing  the  presence  and  services  of  Rev.  Nathan  L.  Rice, 
D.  D.,  then  of  Kentucky,  whose  ability,  (although  a  compar- 
atively young  man)  as  called  forth  by  his  celebrated  debate 
with  Rev.  Alexander  Campbell,  had  attracted  general  attention. 
But  little  time  was  wasted  in  carrying  out  the  project,  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  following  historical  sketch,  copied  froin  the 
"Manual  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church  for  the  year 
1851,"  published  during  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Rice  : 

"With  a  view  to  the  formation  of  a  colony  from  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
session  room  of  that  church  in  the  month  of  February,  1844. 
This  meeting  consisted  of  the  pastor,  ruling  elders,  and  several 
members  of  the  First  Church.  The  proposed  enterprise  met 
with  the  approbation  of  the  meeting,  and  Dr.  Wm.  S.  Ridgely, 
Samuel  B.  Findlay  and  Alexander  McKensie  were  appointed 
a  committee  to  obtain  the  names  of  those  who  desired  to  be- 
come members  of  the  proposed  church.  The  names  of  thirty- 
three  persons  having  been  obtained  they  presented  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Cincinnati  (on  April  2nd,  1844)  a  petition  to  be 
organized  as  a  church,  to  be  called  the  '  Central  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Cincinnati.'  The  petition  was  granted, 
and  the  church  was  organized  by  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery, 
in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  on  Tuesday  evening,  April 
23rd,  1844,  with  thirty-three  members.  The  committee  con- 
sisted of  Rev.  Jared  M.  Stone,  Rev.  Amos  H.  Rogers  and 
Peter  H.  Kemper.  Dr.  Wm.  S.  Ridgely  and  James  M.  John- 
ston were  unanimously  elected  ruling  elders,  and  were  by  the 
committee  solemnly  ordained  to  that  sacred  office.  The  church 
thus  newly  organized,  extended  to  Rev.  N.  L.  Rice  a  unanimous 
call  to  become  their  pastor,  which  he  accepted,  beginning  his 
labors  with  the  first  public  services   of  the  church,  July  14th, 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  173 

1844."  Dr.  Rice  was  installed  six  months  afterwards,  on  Jan- 
uary 12th,  1845. 

Mr.  James  M.  Johnston,  one  of  the  original  thirty-three 
members  and  one  of  the  two  elders  elected  at  the  organization,  is 
still  an  elder  in  the  Central  Church,  having  served  continu- 
ously for  more  than  forty-six  years,  being,  as  far  as  I  can  learn, 
by  far  the  oldest  elder  in  point  of  continuous  service  in  any 
church  in  the  city,  or  probably  in  the  Presbytery.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  this  centennial 
celebration. 

Like  the  Third  Church,  the  Central  Church  had  a  mar- 
velously  rapid  growth,  receiving  in  less  than  four  years  nearly 
five  hundred  members,  and  being  in  less  than  nine  years  the 
largest  old  school  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city.  During 
the  forty-six  years  since  its  organization  it  has  received  exactly 
1,797  members  ;  has  contributed  to  the  Boards  of  the  Church 
more  than  $100,000  ;  to  Congregational  purposes  more  than 
$340,000,  and  to  all  purposes  about  $450,000.  The  present 
membership  is  243,  and  the  present  pastor  is  Rev.  John  J. 
Francis,  D.  D. 

7.    Seventh  Presbyterian  diurch. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  Presbytery  (April  2nd,  1844)  at 
which  the  petition  for  the  Central  Church  was  granted,  the 
Records  of  Presbytery  show  a  petition  signed  by  fifty-nine 
persons  for  the  organization  of  the  Seventh  Church.  For  some 
reason,  however,  this  does  not  seem  to  have  been  carried  into 
effect  at  that  time,  and  about  five  and  a  half  years  elapsed  be- 
fore the  First  Church  was  called  upon  to  part  with  her  fifth 
child.  Indeed,  the  proposition  was  rather  for  a  division  of  the 
family  into  two  separate  households.  This  was  in  connection 
with  the  organization  of  the  Seventh  Church.  At  all  events, 
on  December  5th,  1849,  a  proposition  was  made  to  divide  the 
property  of  the  First  Church  in  connection  with  the  organi- 
zation of  a  new  church.  It  seems  that  this  was  not  done  ;  at 
least  not  in  the  manner  indicated,  The  new  church,  however, 
did  insist,  like  the  younger  son  in  the  parable  (but  not  at  all 
in  the  same   spirit),  that  the  First  Church  should  give  it  the 


174  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

portion  of  goods  falling  to  it,  and  like  the  father  in  the  parable 
the  old  church  yielded,  and  on  the  following  day,  December 
6th,  1849,  the  financial  arrangement  was  satisfactorily  made> 
the  First  Church  agreeing  to  pay  the  new  church  $30,000  in 
ten  annual  payments.  The  next  day,  December  7th,  1849, 
ninety-seven  members  (and  on  December  18th  eighteen  others, 
making  115  in  all)  were  dismissed  from  the  First  Church  to 
form  the  Seventh  J*resbyterian  Church.  The  new  church 
was  organized  by  the  Presbytery,  December  8th,  1849,  and 
building  financially  as  well  as  numerically  strong  from  the  be- 
ginning, entered  upon  a  brilliant  career  on  Broadway,  where  it 
erected  the  handsome  building  which  is  now  the  Scottish  Rite 
Cathedral.  It  has  since  (on  July  15th,  1884)  "taken  its  journey 
to  a  far  country,"  not  to  spend  its  substance  "in  riotous  living,"^ 
but  in  building  up  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  East  Walnut 
Hills,  where  it  is  destined  to  become  again  one  of  the  most  in- 
fluential churches  of  the  city.  With  a  beautiful  new  house  of 
worship,  dedicated  four  years  ago  this  month,  and  with  an 
active,  united  and  liberal  membership  its  future  is  well  assured. 
The  total  enrollment  since  its  organization  has  been  about 
1,400.  The  present  membership  is  144.  The  pulpit  became 
vacant  two  weeks  ago  by  the  resignation  of  its  beloved  pastor 
for  the  past  five  and  a  half  years.  Rev.  Howard  A.  Johnston, 
Ph.  D. 

8.     Pilgrim  Chapel  Presbyterian  Churcli. 

May  5th,  1890,  the  youngest  child  of  the  First  Church  be- 
gan life  upon  Mount  Adams,  and  is  to-day  a  bouncing  boy 
exactly  five  months  and  eleven  days  old,  bearing  the  name  of 
"Pilgrim  Chapel  Church."  I  give  its  interesting  history 
in  almost  the  exact  words  of  its  foster-father,  Rev,  H.  W. 
Gilchrist. 

"  Pilgrim  Chapel  had  once  been  an  independent  churchy 
worshipping  in  a  frame  building  which  stood  on  Fifth  street,  on 
the  hillside  above  Lock  street.  In  the  course  of  time  the 
church  lost  some  of  its  strength,  and  being  reduced  below  self- 
support  the  membership  was  transferred  to  the  Seventh  Church 
then  worshipping  in  the   Broadway  church,  now   the  Scottish 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  175 

Rite  Cathedral.  (In  1871  the  Seventh  Church  received  ninety- 
seven  members  from  the  Pilgrim  Church. )  The  transfer  was 
not  satisfactory  to  the  greater  portion  of  the  membership. 
They  ceased  their  interest  in  the  work,  leaving  it  to  die  in  all 
except  the  name.  The  plant  was  at  last  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  First  Church  and  an  interest  was  taken  by  the  pastor, 
Rev.  F.  C.  Monfort,  D.  D.,  and  the  people  of  the  First  Church 
to  invigorate  the  little  that  remained.  It  was  no  longer  a 
church,  only  a  handful  of  young  people,  not  members  of  any 
church.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  years,  by  careful  nurture, 
the  Sabbath-school  grew  to  good  strength,  the  preaching-service 
hardly  keeping  pace  on  account  of  the  unfavorable  location. 
Plans  for  a  new  building  and  in  a  more  favorable  place  were 
discussed.  At  last  the  present  site  of  Pilgrim  Chapel  was 
selected  and  the  building  constructed.  The  work  continued  to 
be  carried  on  as  a  branch  of  the  First  Church  until  last  spring 
when  Presbytery  in  session  in  the  Third  Church  appointed  a 
committee  to  perfect  the  organization.  This  was  done  on  May 
5th,  1890,  when  the  membership  worshipping  in  the  chapel — 
seventy-three  in  number — were  dismissed  from  the  First  Church 
and  organized  into  the  Pilgrim  Chapel  Church."  The  new 
church   at  once  called  Mr.  Charles  O.  Shirey  to  be  its  pastor 

and  on  1890,  he  was  ordained  and  installed.     The 

presence  of  this  vigorous  and  promising  child  of  less  than  six 
months  among  us  to-day  is  evidence  of  the  rem^-rkable  vigor  and 
fruitfulness  of  its  venerable  mother.  The  fact  should  be  clearly 
understood  that  this  new  church  has  no  organic  connection 
whatever  with  the  old  Pilgrim  Church.  It  is  an  entirely  new 
enterprise. 

II.    THE  GRAND-CHILDREN. 
We  come  now,  in  tracing  the  "  Family  Record,"  to  notice 
briefly  the  members  of  the  third  generation — the  grand -children 
of  the  First  Church.     These  are  not  as  numerous  as  might  be 
supposed,  and  some  of  them  died  young. 

1.    Tabernacle  Presbyterian  Churcli. 

The  first  grand-child,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  was  the  "  Tab- 
ernacle Presbyterian  Church."    This  church  was  a  colony 


176  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

sent  out  from  the  Third  Church,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Rev.  James  C.  White,  who  is  still  living  in  his  eighty-fifth 
year,  and  w^as  organized  with  the  full  consent  and  blessing  of 
the  parent  church,  as  the  following  record,  on  page  204 
Minutes  of  Session  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  shows. 
The  record  is  dated  July  18th,  1842  : 

"  The  session  record  with  thankfulness  the  fact  that  God 
has  increased  the  membership  of  this  church,  so  that  it  is  able 
to  send  out  a  colony  to  plant  the  gospel  in  the  north-western 
part  of  the  city  ;  and  praying  that  the  richest  blessings  of 
heaven  may  rest  on  the  enterprise,  do  hereby  dismiss  the  follow- 
ing members  to  be  organized  into  a  new  church  this  day." 
Then  follows  a  list  of  names  of  forty-two  members  of  the 
Third  Church.  The  petition  for  the  organization,  which  was 
signed  by  fifty-one  persons,  was  presented  to  and  granted  by 
Presbytery,  April  18th,  1842,  and  the  date  given  in  the  fore- 
going record  (July  18th,  1842)  was  probably  the  date  of  formal 
organization.  Under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  J.  C.  White  the 
Tabernacle  Church  built  the  house  now  occupied  by  the  Fifth 
Church,  corner  of  Clark  and  John  streets.  After  an  existence 
of  seventeen  years  the  Tabernacle  Church  was  dissolved  by 
Presbytery,  November  7th,  1859,  the  most  of  the  members 
probably  going  into  the  Fifth  Church. 

2.    Sixth.  Presbyterian  Churcli. 

The  present  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church,  though  not  strictly 
speaking  a  colony,  owes  its  existence  in  its  later  organization 
chiefly  to  the  Third  Church.  It  appears  to  have  had  a  previous 
history  in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  under  the  title  of  the 
"  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Eastern  Liberties  of  Cin- 
cinnati," which  died  and  was  afterwards  re-organized  on  Feb- 
ruary 8th,  1831,  with  the  name  of  the  "First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Fulton."  The  Fulton  church,  according  to  the 
Records  of  Presbytery,  was  afterwards  dissolved.  It  was  again 
resuscitated  and  was  organized  by  Presbytery,  December  18th, 
1842,  as  the  "  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church,  with  twenty- 
two  members,  of  whom  sixteen  w^re  from  the  Third  Church,  five 
from  the  old  Sixth  Church  (now  Vine  Street  Congregational), 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  177 

and  one  from  Lambertville,  N.  J.  During  the  past  ten 
or  twelve  years  it  has  enjoyed  great  prosperity  and  has  grown 
rapidly.  The  total  enrollment  since  the  present  organization 
has  been  643.  The  present  membership  is  215.  It  is  at  present 
without  a  pastor. 

4.    Eighth.  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Eighth  Presbyterian  Church  was  also  a  child  of 
the  Third  Church,  being  organized  by  Presbytery  on  February 
6th,  1848,  with  thirty-one  members,  all  or  nearly  all  of  whom 
came  from  the  Third  Church.  Fourteen  years  later,  in  1862, 
the  church  was  dissolved,  the  members  uniting  with  the  Third 
Church. 

3.    Seventh  Street  Congregational  Church. 

In  the  same  year  (1842)  a  colony  was  sent  out  by  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  and  organized  into  the  "Seventh 
Presbyterian  Church,"  on  George  street,  which  five  years  after- 
wards became  the  Seventh  Street  Congregational 
Church,  which  has  since  removed  to  the  hills,  and  is  now  the 
flourishing  "Congregational  Church  of  Walnut  Hills,"  of  which 
Rev.  J.  W.  Simpson,  D.  D.,  is  the  pastor. 

5.    Poplar  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 

Another  most  vigorous  and  prosperous  grand-child  of  the 
First  Church  is  the  Poplar  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 
Poplar  Street  Church  is  the  active,  wide-awake,  energetic  and 
growing  son  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the 
Second  Church  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  what  she  did  to 
start  the  boy  upon  his  career,  which,  although  checkered  for  a 
time,  has  been  for  many  years  past  one  of  great  usefulness,  and 
is  now  full  of  hope  for  the  future.  The  Second  Church  is  not 
the  mother  in  respect  of  having  furnished  the  members  of  the 
church,  since  less  than  one-third  of  the  fifteen  original  mem- 
bers came  from  that  church  ;  but  in  every  other  respect  Poplar 
Street  Church  owes  its  origin  so  entirely  to  the  Second  Church 
as  to  clearly  establish  the  relationship.  Mr.  H.  B.  Olmstead^ 
an  elder  in  the  Poplar  Street  Church  since  its  organization,  has 
given  me  a  very  complete  and  interesting  history  of  the  church, 


178  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

from  which  I  give  the  following  points.  It  began  with  a  Sab- 
bath-school on  Freeman  and  Liberty  streets,  started  by  Mr. 
L.  H.  Sargent,  at  his  own  expense,  on  May  18th,  1856.  It 
proved  such  a  success  that  a  year  afterwards  the  Young  Men's 
Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Second  Church,  on  Mr.  Sar- 
gent's proposition  and  offer  of  $2,500,  bought  a  lot  and  built 
the  present  church  edifice,  which  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  S.  W. 
Fisher,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  on  June  6th,  1856. 
December  22nd,  1858,  a  meeting  was  held  to  secure  an  organi- 
zation, and  on  January  2nd,  1859,  the  Poplar  Street  Presby- 
terian Church  was  organized  with  fifteen  members,  of  whom 
thirteen  came  on  certificates — four  from  the  Second  Churchy 
three  from  the  Tabernacle,  two  from  the  Eighth,  three  from 
different  Methodist  churches,  and  one  from  the  Congregational. 
The  total  enrollment  since  organization  has  been  613.  The 
present  membership  is  187  ;  and  the  present  pastor,  Rev.  A.  M. 
Dawson,  installed  two  weeks  ago  as  the  successor  of  the  ven- 
erable Rev.  James  C.  White,  who  retired  on  the  same  day, 
after  a  pastorate  of  eighteen  years  and  a  ministry  of  more  than 
fifty  years. 

6.     Ninth  Presbyterian  Churcli. 

Probably  about  the  same  time  that  the  Poplar  Street 
Church  was  organized,  the  Ninth  Presbyterian  Church 
came  into  existence  as  a  mission  of  the  Central  Church,  under 
the  pastorate  in  the  Central  Church  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  West. 
As  an  organized  church  it  had  a  brief  existence  and  was  dis- 
banded in  1864. 

7.    Lincoln  Park  Presbyterian  Churcli. 

The  Lincoln  Park  Presbyterian  Church  was  begun 
also  as  a  mission,  chiefly  of  the  Central  Church,  and  as  after- 
wards organized  may  be  regarded  as  the  child  of  the  Central 
Church,  and  the  seventh  grandchild  of  the  First  Church.  The 
petition  for  its  organization  was  presented  to  -Presbytery,  June 
9th,  1868,  and  during  the  summer  of  1868  it  was  formally  or- 
ganized with  forty-four  members  by  a  committee  consisting  of 
Rev.  Dr.  O.  A.  Hills  and  Elder  F.  Dallas  (Pastor  and  Elder  of 


-       '       PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  179 

the  Central  Church)  and  Dr.  Charles  L.  Thompson.  This 
committee  reported  and  the  Lincoln  Park  Church  was  enrolled 
by  Presbytery  at  Chillicothe,  October  6th,  1868.  After  a 
troubled  existence,  during  which  it  figures  largely  upon  the. 
Records  of  Presbytery,  it  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirteen 
years  and  was  buried  by  Presbytery  May  2nd,  1881.  I  presume 
its  enrollment  during  the  thirteen  years  may  be  estimated  at  ' 
250. 

8.    "Westminster  PreslDyterian  Churcli. 

The  latest  addition  to  the  family  of  grandchildren  of  the 
First  Church  is  the  charming  young  daughter  of  the  Second 
Church,  who  has  taken  up  her  residence  in  her  beautiful  new 
home  on  Price  Hill,  and  who  .bears  the  historic  and  orthodox 
name  of  the  Westminster  Presbyterian  Church.  She 
was  born  in  the  parlors  of  Col.  Peter  Rudolph  Neff,  on  Price 
Hill,  on  November  1st,  1883,  and  has  already  grown  to  be  a 
most  vigorous  child  of  nearly  seven  years,  with  rosy  cheeks 
sparkling  eyes,  and  a  bright  future,  and,  like  the  standard 
whose  name  she  bears,  needs  no  "revision."  I  class  the  West- 
minster Church  as  springing  from  the  Second  Church  because 
Col.  NefF,  who  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  securing  the  or- 
ganization, was  an  elder  of  the  Second  Church,  and  because 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  original  twenty-two  members  were 
members  of  the  Second  Church.  There  were  sixteen  from  the 
Second  Church  and  two  each  from  the  First,  Third  and  Sev- 
enth Street  Congregational  Churches.  The  total  enrollment 
since  the  organization  has  been  291.  The  present  membership 
is  223,  and  the  present  scholarly  and  accomplished  pastor  is 
Rev.  HarleyJ.  Steward,  Ph.D. 

9.    Calvary  Presbyterian  Cliurch,  Linwood. 

One  great-grand-child  claims  notice  in  connection  with 
the  lineal  descendants  of  the  First  Church,  being  the  "Calvary 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Linwood,"  the  vigorous  offspring 
of  the  Sixth  Church,  and  hence  the  grand-child  of  the  Third 
Church.  This  Church  was  organized  by  Presbytery  April, 
1887,  with  forty-seven  members,  all  of  them  from  the   Sixth 


180  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  now  a  most  vigorous  three-year- 
old,  doing  nobly  under  the  leadership  of  its  popular  young 
pastor,  Rev.  William  A.  Major.  Its  total  enrollment  has  been 
thus  far  about  125.     Its  present  membership  is  102. 

ni.    OTHER  CHURCHES  OF  MIXED  ORIGIN. 

A  third  class  of  Churches  are  those  of  mixed  or  independ- 
ent origin — that  is,  those  which  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
direct  colonizations  of  either  the  First  Church  or  any  of  her 
children,  although  most  of  them  no  doubt  drew  their  original 
material  largely  from  these  sources.  (See especially  the  "First 
Church  of  Walnut  Hills.")  These  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes — (1)  "Extinct  Churches"  and    (2)    "Living  Churches." 

(1).    Extinct  Churches. 

Of  those  which  have  ceased  to  exist  as  separate  Churches 
(besides  those  already  referred  to — viz.,  the  Old  Fourth,  Eighth, 
Ninth,  Tabernacle,  and  Lincoln  Park  Churches),  I  may  men- 
tion two  : 

1.  The  old  "Fulton  Church,"  which  was  dissolved 
probably  nearly  fifty  years  ago. 

2.  The  old  "Pilgrim  Presbyterian  Church,"  of  which 
I  know  nothing  besides  what  is  told  in  connection  with  the 
organization  of  the  present  "Pilgrim  Chapel  Church,"  except 
that  in  1871,  ninety-three  of  its  members  united  with  the  Sev- 
enth Church,  then  on  Broadway. 

(2).    Living  Churches. 

Of  the  Churches  now  existing,  which  are  not  colonies  of 
the  First  Church,  or  any  of  its  children, — being  organized  of 
material  on  the  ground, — a  few  words  should  be  said,  both  be- 
cause they  include  some  of  the  strongest  Churches  in  the  city, 
and  because  many  of  them  are  intimately  associated  in  their 
origin  with  the  mother  Church,  or  her  immediate  descendants. 

1.    First  Presbyterian  Church,  "Walnut  Hills. 

The  last  remark  is  especially  true  of  the  "First  Presbyter- 
ian Church  of  Walnut  Hills,"  so  much  so  that  it  might  almost 
be    regarded  as  a   child    of    the    First   Church  —  that  is,   the 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  181 

material  of  which  it  was  organized  doubtless  all  belonged 
originally  to  the  two  mother  "churches — Duck-creek  (Pleasant 
Ridge)  and  the  First  Church  of  Cincinnati, although  probably 
the  greater  part  to  Duck-creek. 

The  "Presbyterian  Church  of  Walnut  Hills"  was 
the  result  of  the  labors  of  Rev.  James  Kemper,  who  began 
preaching  there  before  the  close  of  1817.  The  Church  was  or- 
ganized October  7,  1818.  In  1818-19  the  old  stone  Church 
was  erected,  and  was  dedicated  July  4,  1819. 

"Lane  Seminary  Presbyterian  Church"  was  organ- 
ized with  twelve  members,  August  18,  1831. 

The  two  Churches  united  Dec.  30,  1878,  forming  the  pres- 
ent large  and  prosperous  "First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Walnut  Hills."  Since  the  union  (twelve  years  ago)  840 
persons  have  been  received  into  the  Church  ;  and  the  total  en- 
rollment since  organization  is  estimated  at  2,500.  The  present 
membership  is  670,  and  the  present  pastor  is  Rev.  William 
McKibbin,  D.  D. 

2.    Cummins ville  Presbyterian  Church. 

November  13,  1853,  a  new  Presbyterian  Church  building 
was  dedicated  in  Cumminsville  and  arrangements  made  to 
hold  services  every  Sabbath.  The  following  year  (1854)  a 
petition  was  sent  to  Presbytery  for  a  Church  organization, 
which  was  refused.  September  18,  1855,  a  second  petition, 
dated  September  11,  1855,  and  signed  by  twelve  persons,  was 
presented  to  Presbytery.  This  petition  was  granted,  and  on 
October  18, 1855,  the  "Cumminsville  Presbyterian  Church'' 
was  organized  with  fifteen  members.  Of  these,  five  were  from 
the  First  Church  and  the  others  from  the  Fifth  and  College 
Hill  Churches.  The  total  enrollment  has  been  about  800.  The 
present  membership  is  334,  and  the  present  pastor,  under  whom 
the  Church  is  enjoying  great  prosperity,  is  Rev.  J.  M.  Anderson. 

3.    Fourth  Presbyterian  Church. 

In  1856,  Rev.  W.  C,  McCune  began  preaching  on  Fifth 
street,  near  Lock.  As  a  result  a  church  of  fifteen  members 
was  organized  by  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  November 


182  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

18,  1856,  in  Engine  House  Hall,  Webster  Street.  The  next  • 
year,  1857,  this  Church  went  into  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  same  year  moved  to  the  corner  of  Franklin 
and  Sycamore.  The  congregation  dedicated  the  present 
Orchard  Street  Church  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  June,  1859.  In 
September,  1867,  the  Church  withdrew  from  the  U.P.  Church, 
because  of  the  i'close  communion"  practice  of  that  denomina- 
tion, and  was  received  into  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati 
(O.  S.),  in  session  at  Goshen,  and  given  the  name  of  the 
"Fourth  Presbyterian  Church."  The  total  enrollment 
since  organization  has  been  524.  The  present  membership  is 
100,  with  hopeful  prospects,  under  the  efficient  ministry  of  its 
present  pastor,  Rev.  John  S.  Edenburn. 

4.    Mt.  Auburn  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  first  meeting  looking  toward  the  organization  of  a 
Presbyterian  Church  on  Mt.  Auburn  was  held  January  20, 
1867.  This  was  followed  by  a  general  meeting,  March  14, 
1867,  at  which  it  was  voted  to  raise  .$25,000  for  the  erection  of 
a  house  of  worship.  The  legal  organization  was  effected  July 
23,  1868,  and  on  October  13,  1868,  the  "Mt.  Auburn  Pres- 
byterian Church"  was  fully  organized  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Cincinnati,  with  sixty-nine  members.  The  Seventh  Presby- 
terian Church  on  Broadway  furnished  the  most  members  of  any 
one  Church.  After  this  came  the  Second,  Central,  Third,  Fifth 
and  others.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  came  directly  from  the 
First  Church.  The  total  enrollment  since  the  organization  has 
been  667.  The  present  membership  of  this  strong,  active,  and 
liberal  Church  is  326,  and  the  pastor-elect,  Rev.  Henry  M. 
Curtis,  of  Flint,  Mich. 

5.  Avondale  Presbyterian  Church. 
"Avondale  Presbyterian  Church"  was  organized 
April  21,  1868,  (the  same  year  as  Mt.  Auburn,)  with  thirty 
members,  belonging  to  various  Churches.  The  total  enroll- 
ment has  been  about  500.  The  present  membership  is  218, 
and  the  present  pastor  is  Rev.  Thomas  O.  Lowe,  under  whose 
able  ministry  and  the  blessing  of  God  it  is  doing  valiant  ser- 
vice for  the  Master. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  183 

6.    Clifton  Presbyterian  Church. 

Clifton  Presbyterian  Church  begfan  with  the  establishment 
of  a  Sabbath-school  in  October,  1879,  which  developed  into  a 
Presbyterian  Mission,  March  15,  1881.  The  following  January 
(1882),  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Howard  Billman,  steps 
were  taken  to  secure  an  organization,  and  on  April  19,  1882, 
the  "Clifton  (Immanuel)  Presbyterian  Church"  was 
organized  by  Presbytery,  and  Rev.  Howard  Billman  called  as 
its  first  pastor.  The  Church  was  organized  with  twenty-seven 
members  from  seven  different  Churches.  Of  these,  ten  came 
from  Mt.  Auburn  Church,  seven  from  the  Second  Church,  five 
from  the  Seventh,  two  each  from  Cumminsville  and  German 
Evangelical  Protestant  Churches,  and  one  from  Hanover,  Ind. 
The  total  enrollment  has  been  about  150.  The  present  mem- 
bership is  102,  and  the  present  pastor.  Rev.  Edward  L.  Warren, 
D.D.,  under  whose  efficient  ministry  Clifton  is  "destined  to  be- 
come one  of  our  most  influential  Churches. 

7.    First  German  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  "First  German  Presbyterian  Church"  was  or- 
ganized, 1850.  The  total  enrollment  has  been  about  .  The 
present  membership  is  110,  and  it  has  been  greatly  blessed 
under  the  ministry  of  its  present  .pastor,  Rev.  Hein.  W. 
Seibert,  Ph.D.,  whose  anticipated  resignation  next  week  is 
deeply  regretted. 

8.    Second  German  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  "Second  German  Presbyterian  Church"  was 
organized,  1866.  The  total  enrollment  has  been  about  .  Its 
present  membership  is  231,  and  it  also  is  prospering  under  the 
ministry  of  its  present  pastor.  Rev.  Arnold  W.  Fismer. 

IV.    MISSIONS. 

Besides  these  twenty-eight  organized  Churches  which 
have  been  enumerated,  mention  should  also  be  made  before 
closing  to  the  following  prosperous  "Missions,"  which  will 
doubtless  nearly  all  soon  develop  into  Church  organizations  : 
1.  "Bethany  Mission"  (Price  Hill),  under  the  care  of  the 
Second  Church,  Rev.  G.  M.  Maxwell,  D.D.,  pastor. 


.184 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 


2.  "Irwin  (Sixth  Street)  Mission,"  under  the  care  of  the 

Second  Church,  Duncan  McLean,  Superintendent. 

3.  "Olivet  Mission,"  under  the  care  of  the  Third  Church. 

4.  "Bethany  Mission"    (Walnut   Hills),  under  the   care  of 

the  First  Church  Walnut  Hills,  Rev.  N.A.  Shedd,  pastor. 

5.  "Mohawk  Mission,"  under   the  care  of  Cincinnati  Pres- 

bytery, Rev.  Peter  Robertson,  pastor. 

6.  "Shillito  Street  Mission,"  under  the  care  of  the  First 

Church  Walnut  Hills,  Rev.  Nelson  A.  Shedd,  pastor. 

7.  "Corryville  Mission,"  under  the  care  of  the  Mt.  Auburn 

Church. 


SUMMARV. 

The  principal  points  of  the  foregoing  history  may  be  tabu- 
lated as  follows  : 


c 

4-) 

CS 

c 

0 

1*.   3 

Name  of  Present 

Name  of  Church. 

0  c 

<u  S 

4^  bi 

Pastor. 

rt  -^ 

tji  '^ 

r-C 

V    V 

■"Pun 

QO 

ao 

Z^ 

a.S 

:^      ■« 

TME    IvlOTHER.    CHURCH. 

First  Pres'n 

Oc.16,1790 

8 

377 

2,386 

Rev.  H.W.Gilchrist 

CHIIvDREJN    OF"  THE   FIRST  CHURCH. 

Second  Pres'n 

July  10, '17 

11 

504 

2,500 

No  Pastor. 

Third  Pres'n 

Jan. 22,  '29 

59 

491 

5,000 

Rev.  J.  M.  Simonton 

Fourth  Pres'n 

About  '30 

1859 

*200 

Fifth  Pres'n 

Mar  29, '31 

10 

342 

1,800 

Rev.  F.  GranstafF. 

Vine  St.Cong.old6th 

Apr.  9, '31 

Drpd 

1846 

20 

300 

1,700 

Rev.  W.H.Warren. 

Central  Pres'n 

Apr  23,  '44 

33 

243 

1,797 

RevJ.J.Francis,D.D 

Seventh  Pres'n 

Dec.  8, '49 

97 

144 

1,200 

No  Pastor. 

Pilgrim  Chap. Pres'n 

May  5, '90 

73 

73 

73 

Rev.  Chas.O.Shirey 

Total 

303 

•?097 

14.270 

GRAND=CHILIDREN    OF  THE    FIRST   CHURCH. 

Tabernacle  Pres'n  .  . 
7th  St.  Cong.,  old  7th 

July  18,  '42 
'42 

Nv.7 

1859 

51 
*30 

500 

*500 
1,000 

RvJW.SimpsonDD 

Sixth  Pres'n 

Dec.18,'42 

22 

215 

643 

No  Pastor. 

Eighth  Pres'n 

Feb.  6, '48 

1862 

31 

*500 

Poplar  St.  Pres'n.  .  .  . 

Jan.    2, '59 

15 

187 

613 

Rev.  A.  M.  Dawson 

Ninth  Pres'n 

About   '59 

1864 

*200 

Lincoln  Park  Pres'n. 

Oct.    6, '68 

Ma. 2 
1881 

44 

*250 

Westminster  Pres'n. 

Nov.  1,'83 

22 

223 

291 

RvHJSteward,PhD 

Calv'j,Linw'd,Pres'n 

April,1887 

■ 

47 

102 

125 

Rev.  W.  A.  Major. 

Total 



262 

1027 

4,122 

PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 


185 


OTMKR  EXTINCT 

CHURCHES. 

Old  Fulton  Church. 
Old  Pilgrim  Church. 

Ab't 
1840 
Ab't 
1871 

*20 
*20 

*200 
*250 

,T0TAL 

40 

450 

OTHER    LIVING  CHURCHES. 


IstWal.  Hills  Pres'n. 
Cumminsville  Pres'n 

Fourth  Pres'n 

Mt.  Auburn  Pres'n.  . 
Avondale  Pres'n.  .  ,  . 

Clifton  Pres'n 

1st  German  Pres'n.  . 
2d  German   Pres'n 


Total 


Oct. 
Oct. 
Nov 
Oct. 
Apr, 
Apr, 


7, '18 
18, '55 
18, '56 
13,  '6^ 
21,  '68 
19,  '82 
1850 
1866 


*15 

670 

2,500 

15 

334 

800 

15 

100 

524 

69 

826 

667 

30 

218 

*500 

27 

102 

*150 

*25 

110 

*200 

*25 

231 

*400 
5,741 

221 

2091 

RvWM'Kibben,DD 
Rev.  J.  M.Anderson. 
Rev.  J.  S.  Edenburn. 
Rev.  H.  M.  Curtis. 
Rev.  Thos.O.  Lowe. 
RvE.L.Warren,D  D 
RvHWSeibert,PhD 
Rev.  A.  W.  Fismer. 


Those  marked  thus  (*)   are  only  estimates,  probably  in  most  cases  far  below  the 
actual  numbers,  as  total  enrollment. 

REZCAPIXULAXION. 


Number 

of 
Churches 

Class. 

Number  of 
Members  at 
Organizat'n 

Present 
Memb'rship. 

Total  Enrollment 

since 

Organization. 

1 

First  Church 

8 

303 

262 

40 

221 

377 
2,097 
1,027 

2,091 

2,386 

8 

Children 

14,270 

4,122 

450 

5,741 

9 

2 

8 

Gsand-Children 

Other  Extinct  Churches 
Other  Living  Churches 

28 

Total  

834 

5,592 

26,969 

the:  reisulxs. 

Thus  from  the  little  Church  of  eight  members  organized 
here  one  hundred  years  ago  to-day,  there  have  sprung,  by  di- 
rect descent,  seventeen  other  Churches,  (making  eighteen 
including  the  mother  Church)  of  which  thirteen  are  still  in 
existence,  having  a  present  membership  of  3,501  communicants, 
and  which  have  received  into  their  membership  during  the 
century  (by  a  very  low  estimate  in  the  cases  where  the  exact 
figures  are  not  known)  20,778  persons. 

While  more  or  less  directly  from  that  First  Church  of 
eight  members,  have  come  into  being  in  all  no  less  than  twenty- 
eight  Churches,  of  which  twenty-one  are  now  living,  having  a 
present  membership  of  5,592  communicants,  and  into  which 
have  been  received,  at  least,  26,969  souls  ;  or,  more  probably, 
not  less  than  30,000. 


THE  PIONEER  PREACHER. 


By  Rev.  C.  L.  Thompson,  D.  D. 


Brethren  and  Friends  : 

When  the  invitation  came  to  me,  w^hich  was  kindly  sent 
by  the  officers  of  this  church,  to  be  present  and  join  in  the  fes- 
tivities of  this  Centennial  occasion,  my  first  thought  was  it 
would  be  well  nigh  impossible  to  take  several  days  from  my 
busy  life  at  this  season  of  the  year,  but  after  a  few  days  re- 
flection memory  woke  again  and  joined  her  plea  to  the  invi- 
tation of  the  church,  and  I  found  it  impossible  to  say  anything 
else,  so  responded  that  I  would  be  glad  to  be  present  and  join 
you  in  these  services.  But,  friends,  on  this  Centennial  occasion 
my  memory  goes  back  only  a  little  over  two  decades,  and  my 
voice  sinks  to  a  minor  key  as  I  face  this  audience  and  consider 
how  large  a  part  of  our  mortal  life  two  decades  comprise,  and 
what  changes  they  imply.  What  a  new  congregation  I  face 
this  morning.  Here  and  there  a  familiar  face.  What  gaps  in 
the  ranks  I  see.  How^  memory  shades  the  picture  as  I  look 
over  the  comparatively  brief  period  in  the  long  history  of  the 
old  church,  and  I  realize  that  the  individual  share  in  the  history 
of  any  church  is,  oh,  how  small. 

I  am  proud  to-day  that  I  have  had  one-twentieth  of  these 
hundred  years  in  this  pulpit,  in  this  delightful  congregation,  in 
this  delightful  work. 

Napoleon  said  to  his  officers  under  the  shadows  of  the 
Pyramids  :  "Forty  centuries  look  down  upon  us."  Only  one 
looks  down  to-day  from  these  towers,  but  "better  fifty  years  of 
Europe  than  a  cycle  of  Cathay." 

One  hundred  years  in  this  Ohio  Valley,  punctuated  by  this 
old  church  spire  this  morning,  are  more  than  forty  centuries 
that  look  down  on  the  drifting  sands  of  the  Nile  ;  more  in  the 
history  of  the  kmgdom  of  God  ;  more  in  their  relations  to  the 
history  of  the  world. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  187 

In  the  last  century  the  line  has  been  so  that  as  I  look  back- 
ward to  the  fathers  who  preceded  me,  and  down  among  those 
who  are  here  to-day,  I  realize  we  are  one  family.  We  have 
been  holding  this  fort  a  hundred  years.  Our  Master  tells  us  to 
"hold  the  fort  for  I  am  coming,"  and  by  the;  grace  of  God  here 
it  shall  be  held  till  he  shall  come. 

Brethren,  I  was  given  as  my  subject  for  this  morning, 
"The  Pioneer  Preacher  ;"  I  did  not  know  why  till  I  came  to 
Ohio.  I  said  to  a  lady  in  the  train  yesterday  that  I  was  coming 
down  to  speak  on  this  occasion.  She  said  :  "Yes,  I  saw  the 
program.  You  were  their  first  preacher  pastor?"  I  blushed 
up  and  said,  "No,  madam,  I  tell  you  this  is  the  centennial." 
"Yes,"  she  said  still  more  provokingly,  "but  you  are  put  down 
on  the  program  as  the  pioneer  preacher,  and  I  thought  you 
were  the  first  pastor."  A  few  minutes  ago  some  one  called  me 
Dr.  Wilson,  so  I  am  carried  back  so  far  that  I  am  not  sure  but 
perhaps  I  was  the  first  pastor. 

The  pioneer  is  the  man  who  goes  west  and  blazes  his  way 
through  the  woods,  cuts  down  the  forests  and  lets  in  the  sun- 
light, builds  the  houses,  starts  a  farm,  puts  in  the  seed  and 
reaps  new  harvests  on  a  fresh  soil.  That  is  one  pioneer. 
Another  pioneer  is  the  man  who  blazes  a  track  of  light 
through  the  wilderness  that  had  been  unbroken  by  the  foot- 
steps of  thought  before  ;  the  man  who  cuts  away  obstructions 
and  lets  in  God's  light ;  the  man  who  builds  houses  for  worship 
and  for  service  and  dedicates  them  to  great  ideas,  of  the  man 
who  opens  territory  that  had  not  been  cultivated  before  ;  he  also 
is  a  pioneer.     Which  am  I  to  speak  about  this  morning? 

First,  I  will  speak  about  the  pioneer  in  physical  relations. 
I  think  I  have  some  right  to  the  subject  after  all.  When  I  was 
a  very  small  boy  my  parents  went  to  what  was  known  as  the 
far  west — to  Wisconsin.  I  can  go  there  in  twenty-five  hours 
to-day.  When  my  parents  and  I  went,  we  were  two  weeks  in 
getting  there.  One  day  my  father  and  mother  and  I  took  a 
drive.  Like  Paul  of  old,  I  lost  my  cloak.  I  left  it  behind.  I 
am  not  sure  that  Paul's  leaving  his  cloak  behind  had  any  par- 
ticular effect  upon  his  future  life,  but  I  never  read  that  verse 
that  I  do  not  think  of  that  occurrence.     A  missionary  minister. 


188  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

a  thin  minister,  on  a  proverbially  thin  hungry  looking  horse, 
came  riding  along  there  and  found  my  cloak,  picked  it  up,  put 
it  on  the  pummel  of  his  saddle,  and  when  he  came  up  to  us  he 
asked  if  this  was  the  boy  to  whom  that  cloak  belonged.  It 
was  my  first  acquaintance  with  the  pioneer  preacher  of  the 
northwest.  After  awhile  he  brought  me  a  Bullion's  Latin 
grammar  and  Ainsworth's  Dictionary  and  started  me  on  the 
road  to  knowledge.  Almost  the  first  words  that  were  said  to 
me  were  :  "My  boy,  I  want  you  to  become  a  child  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  when  you  grow  up  I  want  you  to  become  a 
minister." 

A  young  man,  who  was  a  preacher  and  teacher,  built  a 
school-house  and  called  it  a  classical  institute.  The  name  was 
not  too  large.  The  man  was  back  of  it ;  as  General  Garfield 
said,  he  thought  only  one,  with  Mark  Hopkins,  made  a  college  ; 
so  I  believe  to-day  with  that  young  man,  that  the  humble 
school  which  he  opened  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin  was  a 
classical  institute.  And  when  I  am  called  upon  to  think  and 
'speak  about  pioneer  preachers  I  think  of  those  two  men  who 
gave  up  the  friends  of  their  eastern  home  and  went  into  the  far 
west.  I  think  of  the  streams  of  christian  influence  that  have 
been  flowing  from  their  labors  ever  since.  All  honor  to  those 
men.  We  never  can  think  too  highly  of  them  nor  honor  them 
too  much  nor  love  them  too  well.  I  am  not  sure  but  it  is 
changed  somewhat  since  then.  It  is  hard  to  find  a  pioneer 
preacher  nowadays,  the  man  with  the  saddle  bags  and  the 
hungry  looking  horse,  like  the  thin  missionary  who  rode  up  to 
the  deacon's  house  and  said  :  "I  have  come  to  board  here  and 
build  up  a  church." 

Very  rapid  has  been  the  extension  of  our  means  of  com- 
munication, so  that  the  eastern  and  western  country  are  much 
more  closely  bound  together.  The  steel  bands  go  everywhere, 
binding  the  country  together.  Pullman  trains  carry  our  mission- 
aries to  the  farthermost  fields  of  other  countries. 

I  just  remen:iber  now  that  a  few  months  ago,  just  before 
the  summer  vacation  in  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  in  New 
York,  we  were  considering  the  propriety  of  sending  a  mission- 
ary  to  the   northwest,  to   the  northernmost  point  of  Alaska, 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  189 

looking  right  out  on  the  North  Sea.  We  said  we  will  send  a 
man  if  we  can  find  a  man  who  has  the  spirit  of  heroism  to  go  to 
the  North  pole,  and  an  Ohio  man  came  along  and  said,  "I  want 
to  go."  The  brother  wrote  a  nice  long  letter  saying  :  "If  you 
will  appoint  me  to  that  mission  in  Alaska,  on  the  north  point, 
I  will  go  up  there.  I  will  leave  my  wife  and  children  in  Ohio." 
I  said  to  the  other  members  of  the  Board,  "  Brethren,  I  have 
one  objection  to  this  man.  I  have  some  objection  to  appointing 
a  man  to  go  to  Alaska  who  is  willing  to  leave  wife  and  chil- 
dren to  scratch  for  a  living  while  he  is  gone." 

It  reminds  me  of  Father  Ordway  who  wanted  to  become 
a  synodical  missionary.  We  did  not  think  he  was  the  best  man 
for  the  place,  so  we  elected  Brother  Smith.  Brother  Smith 
said  :  "Brethren,  I  cannot  go.  I  have  got  half  a  dozen  little 
children  at  home,  and  a  synodical  missionary  must  be  away  a 
great  deal  of  the  time."  Then  we  elected  Brother  Jones. 
Brother  Jones  got  up  and  said  :  "Brethren,  I  am  much  obliged 
to  you,  but  I  have  an  invalid  wife  at  home  and  I  can't  go." 
Father  Ordway  said  :  "This  is  all  wrong  to  let  personal  con- 
siderations come  in.  One  man  has  too  many  children  and  he 
cannot  go  ;  another  has  a  sick  wife  and  lie  cannot  go.  I  thank 
the  Lord  I  have  a  wife  who  don't  care  whether  I  am  at  home 
or  not."  I  had  just  that  objection  to  the  brother  here  who 
wanted  to  go  to  Alaska  ;  he  seemed  too  willing  to  leave  his 
wife  and  children.  However  the  mission  was  opened  and  he 
went,  but  he  did  not  go  pioneer  style.  On  the  contrary,  he 
made  the  overland  journey  in  a  comfortable  car,  and  a  govern- 
ment cutter  carried  him  through  Behring  Strait  to  the  point  of 
Alaska  where  his  labors  were  to  begin.  So  it  is  in  the  home 
missionary  field  almost  everywhere. 

I  am  not  sure  but  that  it  is  going  to  have  a  bad  effect  upon 
preachers.  The  chance  for  the  heroes  is  fading  away.  The 
heroism  of  ministerial  life  is  largely  eliminated  and  it  has  a 
hard  chance  to  service.  You  know  when  the  pioneer  mission- 
ary spirit  of  the  early  Christian  church  yielded  to  the  luxurious 
living  of  the  ecclesiastical  period,  the  fibre  went  out  of  the 
men  ;  the  missionary  spirit  faded  out  of  the  church.  It  was  com- 
fort, luxury,  and  letters,  which  meant  death  to  the  missionary 


190  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

spirit.  However  I  ought  to  say,  I  suppose,  I  believe  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  still  has  her  heroes.  I  know  there  are 
young  men  in  our  theological  seminaries  who  are  willing  to  go 
to  Africa  at  Christ's  bidding.  Our  young  men  must  still  re- 
member that  to  be  missionaries  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  Cincinnati 
or  Alaska  or  Africa,  means  to  endure  hardness.  They  must 
not  look  at  it  like  the  darkey  did  in  the  cotton  field.  He  said 
to  himself,  "Oh  Lord,  this  is  hard  work  ;  cotton's  grassy,  sun's 
hot;"  and  throwing  down  the  hoe  he  said,  "I  believe  dis 
darkey's  got  a  call  to  be  a  preacher."  If  any  of  our  brethren 
look  forward  to  the  ministry  as  a  life  of  ease,  they  will  find 
themselves  greatly  mistaken  before  going  very  far. 

Our  home  missionary  fields  in  the  West  are  still  calling 
for   pioneers.     There  were  never  so  many  called  for  as  now. 

I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  concerning  the  second  topic  as- 
signed me,  or  at  least  what  I  choose  to  make  a  part  of  my 
theme.  I  want  to  speak  for  a  few  moments  of  the  preacher  as 
a  pioneer  of  thought.  Now  I  know  I  run  against  our 
friends  of  modern  science.  According  to  the  data  of  the 
science  of  the  day,  the  preachers  are  kept  busy  adjusting  them- 
selves to  the  advanced  thought  of  the  advanced  thinkers  of  the 
age.  According  to  its  canon  the  preachers  are  continually 
looking  backward.  There  are  ever  those  who  think  that 
theology  has  been  a  clog  on  the  world's  wheels  of  progress. 
Let  us  look  at  it. 

I  say  to  all  who  belong  to  that  class  of  thinkers,  that  from 
the  days  of  Paul  to  the  present  time  the  most  fruitful,  intellect- 
ual work  has  been  done  by  the  men  who  work  in  the  fields  of 
Christian  thought  and  Christian  progress.  I  said  from  the  days 
of  Paul,  I  will  go  back  farther  ;  I  will  go  back  to  the  time  of 
Noah.  I  say  Noah  was  an  intellectual  pioneer,  and  he  was  a 
preacher  of  righteousness,  and  he  got  so  far  ahead  of  his  gen- 
eration in  his  ideas  that  he  was  about  the  only  man  left.  He 
was  a  pioneer  in  the  world  of  thought  from  whom  all  the  way 
down  to  Paul,  and  shall  I  say  Jesus  Christ,  the  schools  of  the 
prophets  took  inspiration.  Our  Lord  in  the  first  sermon  He 
ever  preached  drew  lessons  from  the  life  and  words  of  Noah. 


PRESBYTKRIAN     CENTENNIAL.  191 

Abram  was  a  preacher.  The  stream  of  history  never 
took  such  a  new  course  as  when  he  shook  off  the  idolatry  of 
Mesopotamia. 

Jesus  was  a  preacher.  The  s'ermon  which  has  done  more 
to  mold  and  shape  the  world  morals  of  the  modern  world  was 
the  wonderful  sermon  on  the  mount. 

Paul  was  a  preacher.  He  was  pretty  well  in  advance  of 
his  times.  When  Greece  had  given  up  theology  and  morals, 
and  Rome  lived  for  power  and  luxury,  Paul  flung  into  the 
midst  of  that  intellectual  life  the  seeds  of  human  progress, 
which  Christianity  had  given  him,  and  which  in  time  have  in- 
fluenced human  thinking  ever  since. 

Luther  was  a  preacher  and  a  pioneer,  blazing  the  way  for 
the  doctrines  which  have  revolutionized  the  religious  history  of 
the  world. 

Calvin  and  Knox  were  pioneers  at  once  of  religious  and 
civil  liberty.  Brethren,  I  am  of  those  who  believe  in  progress 
in  theology.  Nature  is  complete,  but  geology  is  not ;  and 
theology  is  not.  There  is  still  more  light  to  break  from  the 
word  of  God.  It  has  been  breaking  ever  since  the  days  of  the 
Apostles.  Each  age  makes  advances,  and  as  I  read  history  I 
see  a  steady  rise  in  the  conception  of  God  and  man's  relation  to 
him.  It  is  true,  therefore,  that  the  earliest  preachers  were  not 
in  possession  of  the  full  truth  any'more  than  the  Pilgrim  fathers 
had  an  idea  of  this  continent.  God  screens  us  from  premature 
ideas.  Somebody  says  :  "You  cannot  pick  God's  locks.  They 
are  time  locks.  They  open  when  the  hour  strikes  and  not 
before." 

In  nature  there  is  a  process.  Theology  too  has  a  process 
and  the  preachers  have  been  the  exponents  of  the  extent  of  the 
process  in  their  time.  It  was  not  possible  for  John  Calvin  to 
write  out  our  theology  for  the  nineteenth  century.  We  are 
further  on  than  he  was.  Nevertheless  that  does  not  render  him 
untrue.  He  was  the  high  water  mark  of  the  truth  for  his  day. 
.  The  Westminster  divines  were  pioneers.  They  stood  on  a 
hight  not  reached  before  ;  but  they  could  not  speak  our  word. 
Light  has  been  breaking  tremendously  during  these  last  two 
centuries.     Our  horizon  is  widening.     The  process  is   toward 


192  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

more  light.  Since  their  days  a  whole  new  science  of  com- 
parative religion  has  arisen.  We  see  man  larger  and  God 
nearer ;  we  are  realizing  conceptions  of  Divine  government 
never  fully  realized  before.  So  I  sa^  preachers  are  pioneers  in 
the  grandest  sense  of  the  word.  Has  there  not  been  progress 
and  who  has  made  it?  Have  scientists  been  gathering  to  see 
how  improvement  could  be  made?  Have  you  seen  Huxley  and 
Spencer  and  Darwin  and  the  rest  of  them  gathering  around  a 
table  at  Westminster  saying  :  "Let  us  see  what  we  can  do  to 
get  at  the  best  thought  of  God?"  Oh  no,  they  have  been  on 
the  contrary  busy  eliminating  God  and  getting  more  out  of 
nature.  Has  philosophy  been  striving  to  increase  our  knowl- 
edge of  God?  Oh  no,  that  is  agnostic  and  plays  the  baby  in 
the  universe,  and  says,  "I  don't  know."  No,  our  horizon  is 
wider  and  our  conceptions  more  just,  because  pioneer  preachers 
have  been  struggling  and  seeking  and  finding.  And  the  pioneer 
preacher  in  this  sense  will  have  a  vocation  as  long  as  time 
lasts.  The  pioneer  of  the  saddle  bags  will  come  to  an  end. 
Earth's  latitudes  will  be  completely  compassed.  The  West 
will  have  completely  disappeared.  The  fence  the  ancients  built 
at  the  end  of  their  world  will  be  built.  The  explorer's  work 
will  be  done.  But  the  world  of  thought  has  no  boundaries.  It 
is  an  endless  study.  But  what  we  have  we  are  sure  of.  The 
ground  is  not  surer  under  our  feet.  The  Plymouth  fathers  were 
not  surer  of  the  rock  upon  which  they  stood  than  you  and  I  of 
the  living  elements  of  the  Christian  faith. 

But  the  prizes  of  study  are  not  all  in  the  past.  The  last 
word  has  not  yet  been  spoken.  People  are  going  about  with 
*'  Creeds,"  as  if  they  contained  all  the  truth.  We  cannot  seal 
the  book  and  pass  it  on  to  our  children  and  say,  "there  is  all 
there  is  needed  in  it.  There  is  nothing  more,  just  keep  it." 
Oh  brethren,  they  have  small  ideas  of  the  great  world  open  to 
the  pioneer  thinkers  who  would  take  such  a  view-  of  truth.  I 
remember  taking  my  little  girl  to  the  Atlantic  ocean.  In  her 
childlike  way  she  dug  a  little  hole  in  the  sand  and  then  stood 
back.  Pretty  soon  the  old  Atlantic  came  rolling  in  and  filled 
up  the  little  hole  in  the  sand.  The  old  ocean  flowed  back 
again  and  was  just  the  same  as  before,  but  the  little  hole   was 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  193 

full.  Some  one  has  said  :  "You  cannot  say  my  truth."  No,  it 
is  the  truth.  The  little  holes  in  the  sand  do  not  go  to  the 
ocean,  but  the  ocean  comes  to  them.  You  cannot  say  my  ocean, 
but  you  can  say  the  ocean. 

There  is  one  field  to  which  we  may  always  come  w^ith  the 
feelings  of  a  pioneer.  As  the  enlarging  telescope  sees  no  end, 
but  only  greater  marvels,  so  will  the  growing  thought  of  men 
only  bring  into  view  new  truths  in  the  boundless  fields  of  God. 


•    THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 


By  The  Rev.  Wm.  Henry  Roberts,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


The  General  Assembly  and  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Cincinnati  are  about  of  equal  age.  The  one  assembled  first 
in  1789,  the  other  was  founded  in  1790.  Co-existing  for  a 
century,  the  centennial  of  the  church  would  be  incomplete 
without  a  brief  discussion  of  the  Assembly,  both  as  to  its 
nature,  relations  and  record. 

Consider  first  the  three  fundamental  principles  involved 
in  the  existence  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  three  great 
Scriptural  principles  of  church  government  are,  (1)  the 
equality  of  all  believers,  (2)  the  unity  of  all  believers,  (3)  the 
supreme  authority  of  Jesus  Christ.  Recognizing  the  binding 
force  of  all  three,  the  Presbyterian  Churches  are  neither  pure 
democracies  with  anarchical  tendencies,  nor  monarchies  with 
their  repression  of  individual  freedom,  but  theocratic  republics  ; 
thus  emphasizing  and  maintaining  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
and  in  a  visible  manner,  individual  right,  the  common  good, 
and  the  Headship  of  the  King  of  Redemption.  Our  American 
Presbyterian  Church  is  organized  upon  the  basis  of  the  three 
great  principles  of  government  just  enunciated,  and  we  con- 
fidently assert  that  she  and  her  sister  churches  are  unique  in 
this  respect  in  Christendom.     They  alone  are  in  full  harmony 


194  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL, 

with  Scriptural  warrant,  and  in  them  alone  is  there  that  careful 
balance  between  interests  which  best  secures  the  exalted  ends 
for  which  Christian  church  organizations  exist. 

Consider  next  and  briefly  the  historical  development  of 
our  church  as  an  organized  body.  Tne  first  congregation  or- 
ganized Presbyterian-wise  on  American  shores  appears  to  have 
been  that  of  Bermuda  Hundred,  Va.,  established  in  1614,  the 
affairs  of  which  "  were  consulted  on  by  the  minister.  Rev. 
Alexander  Whitaker,  and  four  of  the  most  religious  men."  The 
first  Presbytery  was  a  General  Presbytery,  erected  in  1705,  and 
changed  by  its  own  action  into  a  General  Synod  in  1717.  After 
a  period  of  seventy-one  years,  the  church  meantime  having  be- 
come co-extensive  with  the  country,  and  the  colonies  having 
become  an  independent  nation,  the  General  Synod  in  1788  pro- 
ceeded to  the  enactment  of  a  constitution.  This  instrument 
was  adopted  in  the  same  year  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

Consider  third  what  the  Constitution  adopted  by  the 
Synod  accomplished  in  the  way  of  organization.  The  scheme 
of  government  adopted  by  the  General  Synod  established  four 
representative  governing  bodies  in  our  Church  :  the  session* 
controlling  the  congregation  ;  the  Presbytery,  having  authority 
over  a  number  of  congregations  located  within  a  limited  geo- 
graphical area  ;  the  Synod  exercising  power  over  both  congre- 
gations and  their  Presbyteries  in  a  larger  geographical  division  ; 
and  lastly,  the  General  Assembly  supervising  the  affairs  of  the 
church  as  a  whole. 

An  analogy  is  sometimes  drawn  and  correctly  between  this 
Presbyterian  ecclesiastical  system  and  the  government  of  this 
Republic.  The  Session,  the  Presbytery,  the  Synod  and  the 
General  Assembly  have  their  counterparts,  it  is  said,  in  those 
civil  bodies  called  the  Township  Committee,  the  County  Board? 
the  State  Legislature  and  the  National  Congress.  This  re- 
semblance is  but  the  natural  result  of  a  common  cause,  for  both 
systems  under  God  originate  with,  are  conducted  by,  and  are 
intended  for  the  good  of  the  persons  governed.  What  Republi- 
canism is  in  the  State,  that  Presbyterianism  is  in  the  Church. 
Both  are  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people. 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  195 

The  several  bodies  of  judicatories  which  exercise  authority 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church  are  not  independent  one  of  another. 
No  one  of  them  possesses  an  absolute  and  exclusive  jurisdiction. 
The  rights  and  powers  of  each  are  definitely  set  forth  in  the 
Constitution.  The  Sessfon,  the  Presbytery,  the  Synod,  the 
Assembly,  have  each  reserved  rights  which  cannot  be  inter- 
fered w^ith,  except  by  methods  expressly  designated  in  the 
w^ritten  law  of  our  denomination.  To  make  sure,  however, 
that  wise,  equitable  and  constitutional  action  shall  be  had,  each 
of  the  bodies  named  is  made  responsible  (excepting  in  the  case 
of  the  General  Assembly)  to  a  higher  court,  the  Session  to  the 
Presbytery,  the  Presbytery  to  the  Synod,  and  the  Synod  to  the 
General  Assembly.  Individual  right,  the  greatest  good  of  the 
greatest  number,  and  obedience  to  the  will  of  Christ,  are  thus 
guaranteed  and  maintained  as  in  no  other  way  possible. 

The  General  Assembly  is  therefore  the  highest  governing 
body  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  foremost  represen- 
tative of  the  principles  for  which  our  Church  stands.  Estab- 
lished in  1788,  it  meets  annually  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May. 
It  is  composed  of  representatives  chosen  according  to  a  pre- 
scribed ratio  by  the  several  Presbyteries  ;  but  it  is  not  the 
Presbyteries  which  are  represented  in  it,  but  as  the  Constitution 
states,  the  Assembly  represents  "in  one  body  all  the  particular 
churches  of  this  denomination  ;"  the  election  of  commissioners 
by  the  Presbyteries  being  simply  a  convenient  mode  of  secur- 
ing popular  representation.  The  general  efficiency  of  the  body 
is  well  stated  by  the  Rev.  John  Hughes,  a  Roman  Catholic 
Archbishop  of  New  York,  who  writes  as  follows  :  "It  is  rtiy 
prerogative  to  regard  the  authority  of  the  General  Assembly 
as  usurpation,  still  I  must  say  with  every  man  acquainted  with 
the  mode  in  which  it  is  organized,  that  for  the  purposes  of 
popular  and  political  government,  its  organization  is  little  in- 
ferior to  that  of  Congress  itself.  It  acts  upon  the  principle  of 
a  radiating  centre,  and  is  without  equal  or  rival  among  the 
other  denominations  of  the  country."  This  testimony  of  an 
enemy  finds  full  confirmation  in  the  history  of  our  denomi- 
national growth  and  work. 


196  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

One  or  two  matters  of  local  history  in  connection  with  the 
Assembly  are  pertinent  to  this  Centennial.  The  General  As- 
sembly has  held  its  sessions  in  Cincinnati  five  times.  The  Old 
School  Assembly  met  here  in  the  First  Church  in  1845,  when 
the  moderator  was  the  Rev.  John*M.  Krebs,  D.  D.  ;  in  the 
Central  Church  in  1850,  the  moderator  being  the  Rev.  Aaron 
W.  Leland,  D.  D.  ;  and  in  1887  in  the  Central  Church,  when 
the  moderator  was  the  Rev.  Phineas  D.  Gurley,  D.  D.  The 
New  School  Assembly  met  but  once  in  this  city,  in  1862,  in 
the  Second  Church,  with  the  Rev.  George  Duffield,  D.  D.,  as 
moderator.  The  Assembly  of  the  United  Church  met  in  the 
First  Church  in  1885,  with  the  Rev.  E.  R.  Craven,  D.  D.,  as 
presiding  officer.  Again,  certain  Presbyterian  clergymen  have 
been  elected  while  resident  in  Cincinnati  to  the  highest  honors 
which  our  church  can  bestow.  The  General  Assembly  of  1839, 
Old  School,  elected  as  moderator  the  Rev.  Joshua  L.  Wilson, 
D.  D.,  and  the  General  Assembly  for  the  same  year,  New 
School,  elected  to  that  office  the  Rev.  Baxter  Dickenson,  D.  D- 
It  will  be  noticed  that  a  singular  distinction  was  conferred 
upon  this  city  in  the  election  at  the  same  time  of  two  of  its 
resident  ministers  to  the  high  office  of  moderator,  one  being 
the  pastor  of  this  church,  the  other  a  professor  in  Lane  Sem- 
inary. The  church  and  the  seminary  are  now  on  more  har- 
monious terms  than  they  then  were,  and  the  unity  of  the 
church  is  of  far  greater  value  than  the  bestowal  of  honors  upon 
men,  when  such  honors  testify  to  the  existence  of  bitterness 
and  strife  between  brethren.  After  the  two  brethren,  just 
named,  the  following  persons  from  this  city  were  chosen  as 
moderators  :  In  1853,  N.  S.,  Diarca  H.  Allen,  D.  D.  ;  in  1857, 
N.  S.,  Samuel  W.  Fisher,  D.  D.  ;  in  1875,  Edward  D.  Morris, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.  Other  brethren  who  have  resided  at  one  time 
or  another  in  this  city  have  also  been  chosen  to  the  chief  office 
in  the  church,  but  were  not  resident  here  at  the  time  of  their 
election.  Their  names  are,  Rev.  Drs.  Nathan  L.  Rice,  Robert 
W.  Patterson,  Henry  A.  Nelson,  Robert  L.  Stanton,  Z.  M. 
Humphrey,  James  Eells,  George  P.  Hays,  and  Charles  L. 
Thompson.  Cincinnati  is  honored  by  the  number  of  her  min- 
isters who  have  attained  to  that  position  which  a  high  authority 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  197 

has  declared  to  be  as  honorable  as  the  office  of  President  of  the 
United  States. 

The  powers  of  the  Assembly  as  designated  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  church  are  usually  divided  into  three  classes, 
judicial,  legislative  and  executive.  Into  a  discussion  of  these 
powers  in  detail,  neither  time  nor  popular  interest  permit  me 
to  enter.  I  content  myself  with  indicating  three  things  con- 
nected with  their  exercise. 

(1).  Any  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  deeming 
himself  wronged  or  injured  by  any  person,  or  by  any  judicatory 
of  the  church,  can  carry  his  case  on  appeal  or  complaint  step 
by  step  until  he  secures  a  final  decision  from  the  whole  church 
gathered  in  General  Assembly.  Far  more  than  in  any  other 
system  of  government,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  does  our  system 
secure  the  rights  of  the  individi^al.  So  much  in  illustration  of 
the  maintenance  in  church  life  of  the  first  great  principle  of 
church  government,  the  equality  of  all  believers. 

(2).  The  second  great  principle  of  church  government, 
the  unity  of  all  believers,  the  General  Assembly  exhibits  in 
practical  operation  by  its  superintendence  of  the  affairs  of  the 
church  as  a  whole.  And  inasmuch  as  the  Assembly,  as  has 
been  already  stated,  celebrated  its  one  hundredth  meeting  but 
two  years  ago,  and  is  but  one  year  older  than  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Cincinnati,  whose  centennial  we  to-day  cele- 
brate, it  is  well  to  consider  the  results  which,  during  the  past 
century,  have  flowed  from  that  unity  in  church  work  which  is 
so  clearly  set  forth  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  mis- 
sionary and  benevolent  agencies  conducted  by  our  Chief 
Judicatory.  A  few  figures  in  the  way  of  contrast  will  suffice 
for  our  purpose.  In  1790,  the  total  strength  of  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church  was  177  mmisters,  431  churches,  and  15,000  com- 
municants. In  1890,  there  are  under  the  cai'e  of  the  General 
Assembly  6,158  ministers,  6,894  churches,  with  775,903  com- 
municants. Our  denomination  has  therefore  increased  in 
membership  during  the  century  more  than  fifty  times,  w^hile 
the  population  has  increased  but  fifteen  times.  A  century  ago 
the  church  had  no  agency  for  the  education  of  her  ministry, 
officers,  John  Calvin  asserts,  to  be  to  the  church  what   the  sun 


198  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

is  to  the  solar  system.  In  the  present  our  church  has  twelve 
theological  seminaries,  some  of  them  well  endowed  and  some 
not ;  and  in  these  institutions  hundreds  of  students  are  gathered 
who  in  consecration  and  devotion  are  the  equals  of  any 
pioneers  of  the  past,  though  the  circumstances  which  surround 
them  are,  under  the  providence  of  God,  very  different,  whether 
we  consider  the  comforts  of  life  or  the  opportunities  for  en- 
larged service.  Again,  at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  this 
church  the  Assembly  was  without  a  single  agency  for  the  con- 
duct of  missionary  and  benevolent  work,  and  in  the  previous 
year  the  total  of  benevolent  contributions  for  the  entire  church 
reached  the  sum  of  $880.  To-day  we  have  eight  great  boards? 
each  one  of  which  is  engaged  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  far* 
reaching  work  in  the  upbuilding  of  Christ's  Kingdom,  and 
the  total  of  benevolent  contributions  last  year  reached  $4,286,- 
180.  The  advance  in  benevolence  in  the  century  is  4,870 
times,  or  to  put  it  in  more  definite  form,  the  average  contri- 
bution of  church  members  to  Christian  work  was  in  1789  six 
cents  per  capita,  and  in  1890,  $5.52.  How  great  a  missionary 
work  the  church  now  conducts  may  be  seen  by  the  fact  that 
last  year  the  IBoard  of  Home  Missions  had  in  its  employ  1,701 
missionaries,  who  labored  in  all  our  states  and  territories  with 
the  exception  of  three,  and  the  total  of  contributions  to  the 
cause  was  $831,170.  In  1790  the  Church  conducted  foreign 
mission  work  only  among  certain  tribes  of  American  Indians. 
To-day  Presbyterian  foreign  missions  are  found  in  fifteen  dif- 
ferent countries,  the  total  number  of  foreign  missionaries  and 
their  helpers  being  1,878,  and  the  benevolent  contributions  for 
this  purpose  last  year  amounting  to  $907,972.  The  largest 
prosperity  known  in  our  history  has  followed  the  reunion  of 
1870.  Of  the  1,650,000  persons  added  on  profession  of  faith 
to  the  church  during  the  past  one  hundred  years  nearly  one- 
half,  778,000,  have  been  added  during  the  twenty  years, 
1870-90.  Again,  during  the  century  the  total  benevolent  con- 
tributions amounted  to  about  $76,000,000,  of  which  more  than 
$57,000,000  have  been  given  since  the  reunion.  God  has 
blessed  the  Church  abundantly,  not  so  much  according  to  her 
faith    as    in    the    proportion    in  which    that   faith    has    found 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  199- 

expression  in  her  midst  in  a  true  unity  of  love  and  labor.  May 
the  General  Assembly  continue  increasingly  to  be  the  bond  of 
correspondence,  peace  and  vital  prosperity  between  our  wide- 
spread congregations. 

But  there  is  a  larger  unity  than  that  which  so  happily 
exists  in  our  own  denomination.  If  there  be  one  Christian 
doctrine  more  than  another  which  is  prominent  in  these  days 
it  is  the  Kingship  or  Headship  of  Jesus  Christ.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  great  truth  that  the  supreme  law  of  Christian 
life  is  the  will  of  Jesus  Christ,  Christians  have  been  brought  to 
realize  as  never  before  their  unity  in  the  Lord.  A  growing 
sense  of  their  obligations  to  their  Saviour  King  has  minified 
the  differences  between    them,   and   magnified    the    things    in 

r 

which  they  agree.  Peculiarly  is  this  tx'ue  in  the  relations  of 
the  minor  members  of  the  great  denominational  families.  The 
several  denominations  in  the  Presbyterian  household  of  faith, 
for  instance,  have  been  drawn  closer  together  than  ever  these 
latter  years,  exhibiting  through  the  world-wide  Presbyterian 
Alliance  their  unity  as  brethren  of  a  like  faith  and  order.  The 
Presbyterian  Churches  of  Great  Britain  and  the  European 
Continent,  of  Asia  and  South  Africa,  of  Australia  and  New 
Zealand,  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  and  of  Canada,  have 
joined  hands  with  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  the  United 
States  of  America  for  mutual  encouragement  and  united  mis- 
sionary endeavor.  Members  of  Papal  churches  speak  often  of 
what  they  call  the  Roman  Obedience,  meaning  thereby  their 
submission  to  the  will  of  the  Pope  of  Rome.  Thirty  thousand 
Presbyterian  congregations,  with  twenty  millions  of  members 
and  adherents,  calling  no  man  master,  recognizing  the  equality 
and  unity  of  all  believers,  yield  themselves  only  to  the  majesty 
and  power  of  the  obedience  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  larger 
unity  of  which  our  General  Assembly  is  at  once  a  sign  and  a 
part,  may  it  become  increasingly  a  vital  force  in  the  life  and 
work  of  our  own  and  other  evangelical  denominations,  giving 
all  Christians  cordially  to  engage  in  a  true  unity  of  love, 
obedience  and  labor,  until  at  last  He  shall  reign  whose  right  it 
is,  and  the  will  of  the  Everlasting  Father  shall  be  done  in  earth 
as  in  Heaven. 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  PRESBYTERY  OF 
CINCINNATI. 


Rev.  E.  S.  Swiggett. 


Whoever  shall  write  the  early  history  of  Cincinnati  can 
not  omit  refei'ence  to  the  church  life  of  its  inhabitants.  Who- 
ever'undertakes  to  trace  the  barest  outline  of  the  origin  and 
growth  of  ecclesiastical  organizations,  will  find  his  pen  in- 
fluenced by  the  secular  life  of  the  people.  It  is  not  within  the 
scope  of  this  paper  to  dwell  upon  the  environment  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  here  a  century  ago  ;  nor  is  it  practicable 
to  take  into  consideration  all  the  forces  which  operated  to  bring 
into  being  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati.  Little  more  can  be 
done  than  to  mention  the  names  of  those  who  were  influential 
in  the  early  councils,  and  whose  wisdom  gave  direction  to  the 
energies  of  the  church.  A  mass  of  statistical  details  might  be 
compiled,  but  only  such  dates  shall  find  place  here  as  shall 
serve  as  finger  boards  to  him  who  would  traverse  the  by-ways 
and  cross-roads  of  our  Presbyterial  biography. 

With  increase  of  population  came  increase  of  ministers 
and  of  chufches.  The  practical  necessities  of  church  work 
required  that  the  seat  of  ecclesiastical  control  and  supervision 
should  be  central  to  the  most  populous  region.  The  territory 
north  of  the  Ohio  river  at  this  point  had  been,  ecclesiastically, 
under  the  control  of  and  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Ebenezer.  That  Presbytery  still  exists,  but  is 
numerically  far  behind  her  offspring. 

In  April,  1822,  the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati  was  organized. 
The  names  of  twelve  ministers  were  found  upon  the  roll  :  B. 
Boyd,  D.  Hayden,  J.  Kemper,  D.  Monfort,  F.  Monfort,  S. 
Robinson,  D.  Root,  E.  Slack,  J.  Thompson,  J.  Welsh,  J.  L. 
Wilson.  Some  of  these  names  are  borne  by  living  kindred, 
and  descendants  of  those  fathers  of  the  church  are  present  in 


'PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  201 

this  house  to-day.  Names,  some  of  them,  associated  forever 
with  the  historic  Presbyterianism  of  this  region,  because  the 
deeds  of  their  "bearers  are  woven  into  the  life  of  the  church  to- 
day. To  their  earnest  piety  and  unflagging  devotion  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  to  the  symbols  of  our  beloved  church,  con- 
taining the  system  of  doctrine  imbedded  in  that  word,  is  due 
all  that  their  spiritual  posterity  have  been  able  to  achieve  in 
this  territory,  which  in  their  day  was  a  wilderness. 

Early  in  its  existence  efforts  were  made  to  divide  the  Pres' 
bytery.  A  small  number  of  brethren  found  it  more  difficult 
to  dwell  together  in  harmony  than  does  the  larger  number  of 
our  own  day.  However,  no  division  was  made  until  the  period 
when  the  whole  Church  separated  into  two  organizations,  and 
the  Old  and  New  School  Churches  came  into  being. 

The  boundaries  of  the  Presbytery  are  not  easy  to  trace  at 
this  day.  They  embraced  not  only  Southwestern  Ohio,  but 
extended  indefinitely  into  Indiana.  The  churches  of  Lawrence- 
burg,  Somerset  and  Union,  in  that  State,  were  organized  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati.  The  Second  Church  of  New- 
port, the  Second  of  Oxford,  Hamilton,  and  Pleasant  View, 
West  Virginia,  have  at  various  times  been  under  the  care  of 
this  Presbytery.  To-day  we  find  the  bounds  including  Hamil- 
ton county,  with  almost  the  whole  of  Clermont,  four  churches 
in  Warren,  and  one  church  in  Butler  county. 

In  the  earliest  days  of  the  Presbytery  the  religious  life  of 
the  Church  seems  to  have  been  at  low  ebb.  We  find,  in  1824, 
a  committee  appointed  to  devise  and  report  to  Presbytery  a 
"plan  for  the  revival  of  vital  godliness."  That  this  was  no 
ordinary  resting  at  ease  of  the  hosts  of  Zion  is  betokened  by 
further  evidences.  Spiritual  apathy  seems  to  have  promoted 
mental  inactivity.  The  Presbytery's  Narrative  of  the  State  of 
Religion  for  1824  records  that  "a  general  lukewarmness  and 
stupidity"  prevails.  The  stern  stuff' of  which  our  fathers  were 
made  is  revealed  in  the  remedy  which  they  propose  to  employ 
for  the  correction  of  the  deplorable  coldness.  It  is  resolved  to 
devote  one  hour,  beginning  at  daybreak  and  continuing  till 
sunrise,  in   secret  prayer.     Then,  as   now,  this   weapon   of  the 


202  PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL. 

Christian  was  the  prevailing  one.  Ensuing  years  indicate  the 
fact  that  God  heard  those  who  chose  self-denial  as  a  portion  of 
their  own  spiritual  preparation  for  the  great  revival  of  1829. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  outpouring  of  God's  blessing 
upon  the  Church,  the  early  years  of  Presbytery  were  occupied 
with  much  judicial  business.  Appeals,  complaints,  and  counter- 
complaints  innumerable  were  before  Presbytery.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  this  litigious  spirit  seemed  almost  wholly  confined 
to  the  ministry.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  famous 
Wilson— Beecher  cases  occupied  the  time  of  Presbytery.  To 
such  an  extent  did  this  spirit  prevail  that  the  laity  seems  to 
have  been  scandalized.  The  eldership  felt  constrained  to 
petition  the  Presbytery  to  devise  some  means  to  terminate  this 
lamentable  state  of  affairs.  In  more  recent  days  a  fraternal 
spirit  is  manifest.  The  Judicial  Committee  usually  has  a 
sinecure. 

While  we  contemplate  the  vast  work  done  and  the  results 
achieved  by  the  godly  women  of  our  day,  let  us  give  a  thought 
to  the  devout  foremothers.  The  honorable  women,  who  were 
but  a  few,  anticipated  the  larger  movement  of  our  time.  With 
no  less  zeal  and  devotion  than  our  sisters  display,  did  our 
mothers  organize  for  the  collection  of  missionary  funds.  "  Fe- 
male Cent  Societies  "  were  formed,  and  the  title  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  in  a  day  of  small  things  the  mites  were  counted. 
The  "  talent "  invested  by  our  Lord  in  our  progenitors  is 
annually  offered  to  Him  with  the  vast  accretions  which  a  larger 
measure  of  wealth  enables  his  people  to  gather. 

To-day  our  most  efficient  committee  on  Home  Missions 
sustains  some  half  score  of  feeble  churches,  which  are  scattered 
through  a  fertile  and  populous  territory.  The  same  committee 
in  old  times,  "blazing"  the  way  for  its  successors,  was  directed 
to  appoint  some  one  "to  explore  the  territory  within  the  limits 
of  the  Presbytery."  It  was  a  day  of  small  things  numerically. 
But  though  the  conies  are  a  feeble  folk,  yet  make  they  their 
houses  in  the  rock.  It  is  evident  that  there  were  giants  in 
those  days.  Giants  who  went  forth  to  make  conquest  of  the 
virgin  soil  and  to  conquer  such  humanity  as  might  be  encount- 
ered  for  Christ.     As  to  who  and  what  might  be  encountered 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL,  203 

a  hint  is  given  us.  The  Presbytery  thought  it  worth  while 
to  enjoin  ministers  not  to  carry  deadly  weapons.  Does 
not  that  shed  more  light  upon  the  state  of  society  than  could 
pages  of  description?  Let  us  believe  that  deadly  weapons 
were  found,  if  at  all,  solely  for  protection  against  savage  beasts, 
and  still  more  savage  men. 

It  is  unnecessary  now  to  dwell  upon  the  causes  which 
were  leading  up  to  the  division  which  rent  the  whole  church. 
The  militant  spirit  of  the  brethren  seems  to  have  been  aroused, 
however,  and  a  stormy  scene  occurred  when  the  opposing 
forces  each  sought  to  dominate  the  Presbytery.  One  gathers 
from  the  official  records  that  a  scene  was  witnessed  which 
would  have  paralleled  some  of  the  stormy  times  of  the  National 
Legislature.  Let  us  bury  all  that,  with  the  regret  in  passing 
that  the  work  of  the  Master  should  have  been  retarded  by  the 
inability  of  men  to  agree. 

In  1841  we  find  that  there  were  seven  Presbyterian 
churches  in  the  city.  In  a  volume  compiled  by  Charles  Cist, 
Edward  D.  Mansfield  and  others,  we  find  the  following  record 
of  Presbyterian  churches.  It  will  be  observed  that  nearly  all 
have  changed  their  location  : 

First,  west  side  of  Main,  between  Fourth  and  Fifth  streets. 
Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  pastor. 

Fourth,  north  side  of  High  street,  near  the  corporation 
line.     Rev.  Samuel  R.  Wilson. 

Fifth,  northeast  corner  Elm  and  Ninth  streets.  Rev.  John 
Burtt,  pastor. 

All  the  above  were  Old  School. 

Second,  south  side  of  Fourth,  between  Vine  and  Race 
streets.     Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.,  pastor. 

Third,  north  side  of  Second,  between  Walnut  and  A'ine 
streets.     Rev.  Thornton  A.  Mills,  pastor. 

Sixth,  south  side  of  Sixth,  between  Main  and  Walnut 
streets.     Rev.  Jonathan  Blanchard,  pastor. 

African,  west  side  of  Lawrence,  between  Symmes  and 
Fourth  streets.     Rev.  Benjamin  Templeton,  pastor. 


204  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

These  were  New  School.  The  last  named,  however,  was" 
probably  not  strictly  in  connection  with  Presbytery,  as  the 
name  of  its  pastor  was  never  enrolled  as  a  member  of  the  New 
School  Presbytery.  There  is,  however,  a  record  of  the  organ- 
ization of  a  church  for  colored  people,  which  was  called  the 
Seventh  Church.  There  is  nothing  official  to  indicate  what 
has  become  of  that  organization.  Indeed,  there  seems  never  to 
have  been  any  effort  made  to  shepherd  the  colored  people  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Cincinnati. 

There  remain  numerous  indications  of  the  great  struggle, 
continued  through  many  years,  which  ended  in  the  liberation 
of  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States.  Lying  upon  the  border 
between  North  and  South,  an  important  station  on  the  Under- 
ground Railroad,  as  Cincinnati  was,  many  tokens  of  the  civil 
conflict  found  their  counterpart  in  church  courts.  The  Presby- 
tery was  confronted  with  many  questions  arising  out  of  the 
"peculiar  institution."  Questions  of  ethics  as  well  as  of 
ethnology  ;  of  policy  as  well  as  of  morals  ;  evoked  expressions 
of  opinion  which  were  sometimes  not  so  clear-cut  and  definite 
in  their  defense  of  righteousness  as  we  could  wish.  Much 
time  was  consumed,  and  doubtless  many  unrecorded  debates 
occurred,  in  reaching  a  decision  as  to  the  ecclesiastical  status  of 
men  who  had  owned  slaves,  or  of  those  who  defended  slave- 
holding.  In  commending  a  denominational  journal  to  the 
members  of  the  Presbytery,  and  of  the  churches,  the  oppor- 
tunity is  embraced  to  advise  the  editor  thereof,  to  "  use  great 
caution  and  mildness  on  the  subject  of  slavery." 

Our  modern  editors  do  not  ask  the  official  approval  of 
Presbytery,  nor  would  they  accept  with  thanks  the  gratuitous 
counsel  of  their  brethren.  And  certainly  we  do  not  think  they 
would  use  anything  but  the  greatest  boldness  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  as  they  do  on  other  subjects. 

There  had  not  a  few  decades  ago  been  developed  so  great 
a  spirit  of  Sabbath  lawlessness  as  is  manifested  in  our  day. 
Railways  and  horse  car  lines  had  not  received  the  sanction  of 
the  people,  through  their  rulers,  to  trample  upon  the  sanctity 
of  the  day.    The  Presbytery  decided  that  a  church  session  could 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  205 

not  give  a  letter  of  "good  standing''  to  a  person  who  took  toll 
upon  the  Sabbath.  That  decision  still  stands.  But  the  lines 
have  been  greatly  relaxed. 

Denominational  lines  were  drawn  with  strictness.  Branches 
of  the  church  not  considered  evangelical  were  considei'ed  not 
worthy  of  fellowship.  Upon  one  occasion  a  member  of  Pres- 
bytery, a  cultured  minister,  whose  name  ranks  high  to  this  day 
as  an  educator,  appeared  before  that  body  and  confessed  a 
heinous  crime.  He  had  received  the  communion  in  a  Sweden- 
borgian  church.  At  the  same  time  he  expressed  his  penitence. 
The  matter  was  a  very  grave  one,  but  because  of  the  expressions 
of  penitence  Presbytery  decided  to  take  no  further  steps  in  the 
matter,  yet  conveying  the  impression  that  it  highly  disapproved 
of  the  action. 

The  era  of  perfect  good  feeling  had  not  yet  arrived,  when, 
as  Reunion  drew  nearer,  this  Presbytery  declared  that  its 
pulpits  should  not  be  supplied  by  ''  unrepenting  rebels  of  the 
Southern  Church." 

All  these  incidents  are  pertinent  to  a  sketch  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, inasmuch  as  they  reveal  the  characteristics  of  the  men 
who  formed  and  of  those  who  have  composed  the  Presbytery, 
as  well  as  being  a  portrayal  of  the  times  and  vicissitudes 
through  which  the  church  has  lived  in  its  life  of  almost  seventy 
years. 

Reunion  came,  brethren  long  separated  were  reunited.  A 
consolidation  of  interests,  an  economy  of  inen,  and  time  and 
materials  ensued.  Presbytery  no  longer  devotes  sessions  to  the 
settlement  of  personal  differences  between  brethren.  Work  of 
more  profitable  character  evokes  the  energies  of  thought  and 
action.  "  Conquest  for  Christ "  is  more  than  ever  a  talisman 
of  victory.  Consecrated  laymen  have  devoted  wealth  and  time 
to  Christian  service.  The  prospect  of  continued  and  more 
fruitful  usefulness  is  more  encouraging  than  ever  before. 

This  paper  has  not  been  burdened  with  statistics.  Many 
names  enrolled  in  the  Presbytery  have  held  high  positions  in 
the  councils  of  the  Church,  both  of  the  ministers  and  elders. 
But  who  shall  discriminate  where  so  many  deserve  mention? 


206  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTExXXIAL. 

The  Presbytery  began  its  existence  with  twelve  ministerial 
members.  Three  hundred  and  forty-one  ministers  have  been 
received  from  other  Presbyteries  ;  one  hundred  and  eleven  can- 
didates have  been  ordained  by  the  Presbytery,  making  a  total 
membership  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  ministers,  and  un- 
counted hundreds  of  elders.  Who  shall  estimate  the  value  of 
the  results  which  God  has  wrought  with  this  host  of  workers? 
In  addition  to  the  foregoing  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  can- 
didates for  the  ministry  have  been  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel. 
When  the  death-roll  is  called  some  one  must  respond  with  the 
names  ot  fifty- four  ministers  and  many  honored  elders,  and  of 
these  it  shall  be  said  :  "Dead  on  the  field  of  honor." 

Ninety -eight  churches  have  been  organized.  Twenty 
churches  have  dissolved,  and  some  have  been  dismissed  to  other 
Presbyteries,  while  still  others  have  been  consolidated.  There 
have  been  two  hundred  and  ten  pastors  installed  over  these 
churches,  while  there  have  been  one  hundred  and  seventy  dis- 
solutions of  the  pastoral  relation,  without  counting  those 
which  death  has  dissolved. 

In  all  the  w^ork  of  the  Presbytery,  the  historic  First  Church 
— mother  of  churches — with  her  pastors  has  had  a  notable 
past.  To-day  celebrates  not  alone  this  church's  anniversary, 
nor  that  of  the  Presbytery,  but  the  beginning  rather  of  the 
conquest  of  all  this  country  for  Christ  and   His  righteousness. 

May  the  achievements  of  the  coming  century  raise  an  im- 
perishable monument  to  the  endurance  and  persistance,  to  the 
vigor  and  perseverance  of  the  saints  who  organized  and  have 
maintained  the  official  life  of  the  Presbytery  through  the  years 
that  are  past. 


PROMINENT  MEN  OF  THE  PAST. 


By  Dr.  Andrew  Kemper. 


I  am  asked,  my  friends,  to  occupy  fifteen  minutes  in  speak- 
ing to  you  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  past ;  that  is,  the  men 
of  this  century,  of  the  years  prior  to  1829.  Dr.  Joseph  G. 
Monfort  and  others,  in  speaking  of  the  revival  of  1829,  have 
gone  into  sufficient  details  in  regard  to  those  w^ho  lived  after 
that  date.  I  confess  to  you  that  when  I  look  upon  my  theme, 
with  the  time  allotted  to  it,  and  the  speaker  as  well,  for  each 
is  entirely  inadequate  to  its  greatness,  I  feel  lost.  I  am  afraid 
to  trust  myself;  I  am  afraid  to  trust  you  to  go  out  to  sea  with 
this  theme  with  me,  less  you  should  be  weary.  All  I  can  at- 
tempt now  to  do  is  to  give  a  bird's  eye  view  of  the  character 
of  those  men.     Where  shall  I  begin  and  how? 

It  was  but  a  day  or  two  ago  that  perhaps  some  of  you  as 
well  as  myself  stood  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  and 
gazed  at  the  man  who  was  standing  aloft  upon  the  thumb  of 
that  gilt  hand  upon  the  summit  of  this  church,  which  points  to 
heaven.  With  implicit  confidence  in  his  own  physical  power, 
with  implicit  faith  in  his  level  headedness,  he  stood  there  to 
the  awe  and  amazement  of  those  of  us  who  looked  at  him  from 
below.  As  we  looked  we  could  not  but  think  how,  if  there 
were  a  tremor,  but  the  slightest  tremor  in  any  one  of  those 
335  feet  of  the  lofty  pinnacle  it  would  unbalance  that  man's 
position  and  dash  him  to  the  earth.  If  a  slight  wind  should 
come  along,  if  the  earth  should  tremble,  if  there  should  be  a 
slight  tremor  in  that  steeple,  he  would  be  dashed  to  the  earth 
and  to  destruction.  But  no  ;  from  the  spire,  from  the  very 
point  of  that  lightning  rod,  coming  on  down  through  this 
architectural  structure,  every  joint  is  fitly  joined  together, 
every  part  is  made  firm  and  fast.  There  is  not  a  stick  of  de- 
cayed timber  in  the  whole  building,  there  is  not  a  loose  joint 
that  would  permit  any  wavering. 


208  PRESBYTERIAN     CEME.XNIAL. 

Now  when  we  come  to  look  at  a  piece  of  architecture  like' 
this  we  are  very  apt  to  look  at  the  gilt  hand  and  gaze  at  the 
tall  spire.  We  go  in  and  look  upon  the  fretted  tinselry  of 
'plaster  paris,  the  windows  of  colored  glass,  and  looking  at  the 
beauty  of  the  curves  we  admire  the  exquisite  proportions  of 
the  piece  of  architecture.  How  many  of  us  think  of  the  solid 
foundation  placed  beneath?  How  many  of  us  are  willing  to 
go  with  those  grimy  fellows  whose  hands  built  these  walls  and 
study  how  the  foundations  were  laid?  If  this  building  stands 
here  firm,  and  if  that  man  on  its  topmost  point  could  feel  so 
secure,  we  must  remember  that  its  foundations  are  sure.  If 
this  be  true  of  such  a  piece  of  architecture  as  this,  how  much 
truer  m"L;st  it  be  of  those  who  fabricate  social  architecture,  of 
those  whose  building  stones  are  the  souls,  the  minds,  the  hearts 
of  their  fellow-men.  Let  us  for  awhile  pause  and  admire  the 
genius,  the  worth  of  those  who  la;id  the  foundations  which 
have  made  all  these  things  possible. 

And  now  again  where  shall  I  begin  and  how  ?  Oh,  would 
that  I  could  call  up  old  Homer  or  some  other  one  that  had  his 
power.  How  well  we  all  remember  that  the  very  catalogue 
of  the  ships,  immortalized  himself  and  the  heroes  in  the  ships, 
and  the  ships  themselves.  If  the  Greek  poet  could  do  such  a 
thing  with  the  names  of  ships,  what  might  such  a  man  do  with 
the  names  of  heroes  who  laid  the  foundations  of  this  social 
structure  which  you  and  I  enjoy?  But  we  cannot  go  into 
details.  We  cannot  even  catalogue  those  immortal  names,  for 
they  will  live  so  long  as  there  is  freedom  in  the  world  and  a 
Presbyterian  Church  in  which  they  may  worship  their  God. 
We  may  look  at  the  character  of  those  men  w^ho  laid  the 
foundations  of  our  present  structure.  Take  Cincinnati,  as  it 
is,  with  its  steam  fire  engine  and  its  Music  Hall  and  Music 
College,  its  Exposition, — I  simply  hint  two  or  three  things  in 
order  that  I  may  show  to  you  that  among  the  cities  of  these 
United  States,  in  intelligence  and  activity,  there  is  none  that 
has  surpassed  our  dearly  beloved  and  native  city. 

Look  at  our  churches,  the  details  of  whose  history  have 
been  the  results  of  their  work.  Look  at  our  schools  ;  I  do  not 
mean  merely  our  public  schools,  but  I  mean  to  include  all  those 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  209 

schools  which  came  under  the  influence  of  those  men  ;  for  the 
foundations  of  most,  if  not  all,  of  our  colleges  were  laid  by 
those  men  of  the  early  day.  They  came  here  not  only  for 
liberty,  but  to  place  that  liberty  on  sure  foundations,  and  the 
educational  profession  was  one  of  the  chief  points  to  which 
they  directed  their  atten-tion.  I  venture  to  say  that  if  you  will 
take  a  radius  of  one  hundred  miles- — I  am  not  a  great  stickler 
for  state  rights — let  Cincinnati  be  the  centre,  draw  your  circle. 
I  once  heard  Leslie  Stoke  say  that  Lexington  was  the  centre 
of  the  finest  farming  land  in  the  world.  He  went  to  Danville 
and  said  there  that  Danville  was  the  centre  of  the  finest  farm- 
ing land  in  the  world  ;  and  I  venture  to  say  that  Cincinnati  is 
the  centre  of  the  finest  agricultural  land  in  the  world.  But 
take  the  civilization  of  the  communities  in  that  radius,  it  can- 
not be  excelled  for  intelligence  and  activity  and  excellence  of 
manhood. 

-Now  we  may  look  at  those  men  again  from  their  sur- 
roundings. Who  were  the  men  with  whom  they  were  familiar  ; 
who  the  soldiers  of  the  cross  with  whom  they  touched  elbow? 
Where  was  George  Washington,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the 
Adamses,  Patrick  Henry?  Why,  this  nation  was  just  fresh  in 
its  efforts  to  consolidate  itself  into  a  nation.  It  was  with  such 
men  as  those  from  old  Virginia,  mother  of  presidents,  that 
they  walked.  This  was  the  land  that  gave  birth  to  many  of 
those  who  established  the  civilization  we  have,  and  how  well 
they  did  it. 

The  ordinance  of  1787  had  recently  been  passed.  Glad- 
stone pronounces  this  to  be  one  of  the  most,  perhaps  the  most 
important  legal  enactment  in  the  United  States.  Not  only 
was  the  nation  getting  closer  together  and  these  people  coming 
out  from  Virginia,  but  the  ordinance  of  1787  had  been  passed 
reserving  to  all  this  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  river  three 
things.  These  three  things  were  knowledge,  liberty  and 
general  education.  That  ordinance  provided  for  the  perfect 
freedom  and  the  utmost  development  in  these  directions.  It  is 
strictly  right  to  say  that  the  passengers  on  the  May  Flower 
who  landed  upon  Plymouth  Rock,  claimed  this  entire  country 
for  themselves  and  the  government  which  they  established.    It 


210  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

is  true  they  were  refugees.  They  were  driven  out  from  their 
country.  They  came  they  knew  not  where  ;  they  knew  not 
how,  and  there  established  a  government  under  the  Providence 
of  God. 

But  the  men  who  came  to  Cincinnati  came  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  They  came  here  with  a 
purpose.  They  came  knowing  the  territory,  and  determined  to 
found  here  a  government.  Surely  we  must  not  pass  silently 
by  such  men  as  these.  We  must  give  them  their  due  consider- 
ation. They  did  establish  a  government,  schools  and  a  church. 
What  sort  of  a  church?  What  kind  of  a  church?  They  called 
it  a  Presbyterian  church.  They  had  but  one  church  at  the 
time.  The  Baptists,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Methodists,  all  of 
these  were  Presbyterian.  They  all  came  together.  All  formed 
one  church.  The  Presbyterian  church  ?  No  ;  the  Republican 
church,  the  American  church. 

Just  recently  we  have  had  a  good  deal  of  discussion  in  the 
journals  by  those  who  are  ever  wanting  some  change.  "What 
is  to  be  the  new  church  of  America?"  as  though  America 
needed  another  organization.  We,  of  course,  are  interested 
in  the  answer  to  this  question.  Seeing  it  as  I  did,  my  thought 
went  to  work  and  from  my  innermost  mind  I  evolved  an  ideal 
church.  I  found  myself  lost.  I  had  a  church  all  fixed  up  in 
all  details  what  it  ought  to  be,  when  lo  and  behold,  it  was  the 
church  of  my  fathers.  What  was  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  my  church  and  their  church?  I  called  my  church 
the  home  church,  the  church  in  the  home.  That  was  the 
characteristic  of  the  church  of  the  men  of  1829,  the  church  in 
the  home.  I  don't  know,  it  may  be  history  records  somewhere, 
1  don't  know  where,  a  church  that  was  more  of  a  home  church 
than  the  church  of  my  fathers.  If  history  does  record  it,  I 
don't  know  it.  If  there  exists  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  to- 
day a  church  more  of  a  home  church  than  the  church  of  my 
fathers,  I  don't  know  where  it  is  I  have  looked  for  it.  I  have 
inquired  for  it,  not  only  of  those  younger  than  myself,  but  also 
of  those  my  seniors  in  age  and  experience.  I  don't  know 
-where  to  find   this  ideal  church  of  mine.     The   church  of  my 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  211 

fathers  as  I  found  it  among  them  was  my  ideal  church.  It  had 
a  ritual ;  it  had  service  ;  it  had  a  priesthood,  and  how  glorious 
in  the  priesthood  was  the  form  and  work  of  woman.  Oh,  who 
that  has  ever  had  the  true  Christian  religion  in  a  grandmother 
and  in  a  mother,  bringing  down  to  him  the  most  precious  of 
life's  lessons  ;  oh,  who  can  forget  that  church  in  the  home  ;  oh, 
who  can  forget  that  more  than  high  priest  who  led  us  all  in 
our  worship  morning,  noon  and  night.?  The  ritual  was  full 
and  complete  for  the  entire  day  ;  it  was  always  attended  to, 
and  it  was  the  utmost  removed  from  form  ;  it  was  sincere  ;  it 
was  glorious  as  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  glorious  in  every 
feature.  Yes  the  thought  of  that  early  church  in  the  home 
has  come  often  to  me.  I  remember  it ;  I  have  seen  it ;  I  know 
about  its  power.  No  man  however  young  could  ever  forget 
the  blessed  influence  of  that  church  in  the  home  ;  that  grandest 
of  all  churches  ;  that  church  so  much  needed  to-day  in  this  our 
Christian  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  services 
were  from  house  to  house  on  a  week  day  and  on  the  Sabbath 
day.  There  were  two  text  books,  but  two.  One  was  the 
Bible,  and  science  did  not  have  a  word  to  say  about  it ;  science 
was  dumb.  Yes,  there  was  another  text  book.  It  was  not  of 
equal  authority  with  the  Bible,  but  it  was  an  aid  to  the  Bible, 
and  many  children,  still  living  perhaps,  were  able  to  learn 
correctly  the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism.  It  was  not 
merely  a  theological  system,  but  was  the  inspiration  of  those 
Christian  truths,  which  may  be  denominated  the  foundation  of 
life  eternal — the  hope  of  every  man  who  received  that  truth, 
by  faith  in  Christ,  and  has  lived  that  life  with  the  home  church. 
There  were  no  criticisms  made  on  the  preachers  ;  no  faults 
found  with  the  high  priest ;  no  faults  found  with  matter  of 
precedence,  who  ministered  at  that  altar.  Love  was  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law,  and  the  children  of  the  family  were  taught 
to  live,  not  that  they  might  make  money,  not  that  they  might 
cut  a  conspicuous  figure  in  life,  bi't  that  they  might  serve  God 
acceptably.  That  was  the  glorious  church  that  my  imagination 
saw,  and  that  was  the  church  of  my  fathers. 

I  confess  to  you  that  in  my  boyhood  days  when  first  I  read 
Burns'  "  Cotter's  Saturday   Night,"  that  it  fell  flat  upon   my 


212  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

imagination  as  altogether  inadequate.  I  did  not  see  then,  I 
could  not  understand  then  why  it  was  so  admired.  I  tell  you 
to-day  I  read  Burns,  not  with  Burns'  imagination  only,  but 
w^ith  my  own  ;  I  read  between  the  lines  ;  and  when  I  see  that 
grand  stream  of  Calvinist  evangelical  doctrine  which  has 
crossed  the  world  with  its  glorious  influence  ;  when  I  study  my 
history  and  look  abroad  and  see  w^hat  a  glorious  influence  the 
Scotch-Irish  race  have  had  upon  the  world,  in  their  influence 
for  true  Calvinistic,  evangelical  Christianity  ;  when  I  remem- 
ber what  was  done  here  before  I  was  born  and  what  surrounds 
me  now,  then  can  I  understand  how,  when  Robert  Burns 
describes  the  poor  cotter  at  his  Saturday  night's  family  wor- 
ship, he  should  exclaim  : 

"From  scenes  like  these  old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs, 
That  makes  her  lov'd  at  home,  rever'd  abroad; 

Princes  and  lords  are  but  the  breath  of  kings, 
'An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God;'" 

and  it  is  the  object  of  our  American  civilization,  and  more 
than  all  of  our  Cincinnati  civilization,  our  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, to  make  honest.  Christian  men  and  women.  We  were  told 
that  Mr.  Galloway,  when  he  preached  here  in  the  revival  of 
1829,  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  up  the  dead  from  their  graves, 
and  marshalling  them  before  his  audience.  We  have  no 
Homer,  even  to  catalogue  their  names  ;  we  have  no  Galloway 
here  to  take  them  up  one  by  one  and  pass  them  in  review  be- 
fore us  ;  but  in  our  imagination  we  may  see  them,  when  we 
have  the  results  of  their  work  about  us  ;  when  we  feel  the  in- 
fluence which  their  memories  bring  down  upon  us  ;  and  as  we 
pass  from  the  consideration  of  their  character,  we  may  say  to- 
day in  the  words  of  Bryant : 

"So  live  that  when  thj  summons  comes,  to  join 

The  innumerable  caravan,  that  moves 

To  the  pale  realms  of  shade,  where  each  shall  take 

His  chamber,  in  the  silent  halls  of  death. 

Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night, 

Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but  sustained  and  soothed 

By  an  unfaltering  tiust,  approach  thy  grave. 

Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch  about  him, 

And  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

Asleep   in  Jesus,  oh,  blessed  Jesus.      When   may  we  see 

their  likes  again  ?     God  make  us  more  like  them  and  more  like 

Christ. 


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MINISTERIAL  RELIEF. 


Jy  E.  R.  Monfort. 


'  In  ancient  times  and  even  until  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  many  heathen  nations  and  tribes  were  accustomed  to 
take  the  lives  of  their  old  men  and  w^omen  when  they  became 
infirm  or  dependent,  and  so  loyal  were  some  of  these  victims 
that  they  willingly  submitted  to  this  unnatural  traditional 
custom  for  the  good  of  their  tribes.  Christianity  has  lifted  up 
another  standard  of  duty  and  responsibility  to  the  needy  and 
suffering  wards  of  society.  The  doctrine  of  "the  survival  of 
the  fittest"  is  no  longer  tenable,  but  nations  and  societies  are 
competing  with  each  other  in  benevolent  and  humanitarian 
efforts  to  relieve  distress  and  care  for  the  needy.  In  our  church 
the  Board  of  Relief  for  disabled  ministers,  those  who  are  de- 
pendent upon  them,  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  such  as 
have  laid  down  their  lives  in  the  work,  is  the  culmination  of 
the  highest  and  noblest  type  of  Christian  obligation  to  those 
who  have  gone  before  and  into  whose  labors  we  have  entered. 
This  Board  of  Relief  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  instinctive 
feeling  of  obligation.  It  began  in  our  Church  in  1717  with 
the  establishment  of  a  "  Fund  for  Pius  Uses,"  and  the  first 
beneficiary  was  the  widow  of  Rev.  John  Wilson  in  1719,  who 
may  have  been  the  ancestor  of  one  of  the  pastors  of  this  church, 
and  the  first  disabled  minister  aided  was  Rev.  Mr.  Evans  in 
1721.  This  Fund  was  probably  not  limited  to  any  one  "  pius 
use,"  although  that  was  its  primary  object,  until  1754  when  a 
plan  for  a  fund  for  the  support  of  ministers'  widows  was 
adopted,  carried  out,  and  annual  reports  of  its  operation  made 
to  synod.  This  fund  was  maintained  by  a  compulsory  assess- 
ment upon  each  minister  and  candidate  for  the  ministry  under 
the  care  of  the  synod,  out  of  w^hich  the  widows  at  their  death  * 
would  receive  an  annuity  for  life  and  the  children  for  the  term 


214  PRESBYTERIAN     CKNTENNIAL. 

of  their  years  of  dependency  ;  likewise,  any  member  of  the ' 
association  should,  in  case  of  inability,  be  entitled  to  annuities 
during  such  indisposition.  In  1759  a  charter  was  granted  by 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  society  was  called,  "The 
Corporation  for  the  relief  of  poor  and  distressed  ministers 
and  of  poor  and  distressed  widows  of  Presbyterian  ministers." 
This  was  practically  a  mutual  benefit  society.  The  corpor- 
ation continued  to  make  its  annual  reports  to  the  synod  and  to 
the  General  Assembly  until  1837.  In  1856  it  was  merged  into 
the  Presbyterian  Life  Insurance  Company  or  the  Presbyterian 
Annuity  Company,  and  again  in  1888  it  was  changed  to  "The 
Presbyterian  Ministers'  Fund." 

While  the  present  Board  of  Relief  is  not  the  lineal  de- 
scendent  of  these  funds,  they  prepared  the  way  for  its  establish- 
ment by  awakening  the  interest,  sympathy  and  duty  of  the 
Church  to  provide  for  its  disabled  servants. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  find  positive  evidence  of  the  first 
movers  of  its  establishment,  but  I  do  find  that  it  grew  out  of 
movements  started  in  the  Presbyteries  of  Portsmouth,  Chilli- 
cothe  and  Cincinnati.  The  First  Church,  being  the  mother 
of  Presbyterianism  in  Ohio,  may  claim  some  credit  for  its 
inception. 

It  first  began  in  private  eflforts  in  special  cases,  then  grew 
into  Presbyterial  effort  and  control,  extending  to  other  Presby- 
teries and  ultimately  to  the  General  Assembly,  which  estab- 
lished funds  on  the  present  plan  of  the  Board,  "The  O.  S.  in 
1849  and  the  N.  S.  in  1861."  These  funds  were  consolidated 
1870  and  incorporated  in  1876  as  the  "Board  of  Relief." 

During  the  early  part  of  the  discussion,  which  resulted  in 
the  establishing  of  the  funds  and  finally  of  the  Board,  many 
overtures  were  presented  and  many  plans  proposed,  but  it  re- 
mained for  Judge  H.  H.  Leavitt,  of  Cincinnati,  for  many  years 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  out- 
line the  plan  finally  adopted  and  by  his  great  ability  and 
eloquent  advocacy  to  secure  its  establishment. 

As  showing  the  aim  of  this  Board  and  the  sense  of  respon- 
sibility felt  by  the  Church,  I  will  give  a  quotation   from   the 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  215 

final  report  of  Judge  Leavitt's  committee  in  the   Assembly   of 
1857.     He  says  : 

"It  seems  now  to  be  conceded  on  all  hands,  that  on  grounds 
both  of  church  policy  and  Christian  duty,  an  imperative  obli- 
gation rests  on  the  Church  to  make  suitable  provision  in  behalf 
of  these  suffering  classes  for  whose  benefit  the  present  movement 
has  been  initiated.  This  conclusion  seems  to  be  fully  sustained 
by  a  reference  to  the  views  of  the  Assembly,  more  than  once 
enunciated,  and  which  are  so  clear  and  explicit,  that  an  argu- 
ment from  this  committee  is  not  only  not  required,  but  would 
be  clearly  out  of  place.  This  ground  was  distmctly  assumed 
by  the  Assembly  of  1849,  and  measures  were  sanctioned  by  it 
designed  to  give  force  and  effect  to  the  obligations  referred  to. 
And  in  the  last  Assembly,  though  there  were  differences  of 
opinion  as  to  the  wisest  and  most  effective  means  to  accomplish 
the  end  in  view,  no  voice  was  heard  in  denial  of  the  justice  and 
expediency  of  ministering  to  the  comfort,  and  supplying  the 
wants  of  the  servant  of  God,  who,  from  age  or  disease,  had 
been  compelled  to  lay  aside  his  armor  without  the  means  of 
support.  Equally  clear  and  cogent  were  the  arguments  urged 
in  behalf  of  the  claims  of  the  bereft  widows  and  fatherless 
children.  And  it  was  at  once  noteworthy  and  gratifying  that 
these  claims  were  not  based  on  the  ground  of  a  charitable  ob- 
ligation, but  on  the  immutable  principles  of  strict  right." 

From  the  time  of  the  union  this  Board  grew  in  favor  and 
usefulness  until  1884,  when  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  C.  Cattell  was 
chosen  secretary  and  assumed  the  duties  of  his  position  with 
such  a  feeling  of  the  "  new  and  sacred  responsibilities "  laid 
upon  him  that  he  communicated  his  spirit  and  energy  to  the 
whole  church  and  especially  to  the  eldership,  upon  whom  he 
laid  a  responsibility  and  imparted  a  stimulus  that  has  given 
the  cause  a  rapid  growth. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1885  which  met  in  this  church 
enlarged  the  scope  of  the  Board  by  adopting  a  resolution  of  the 
committee,  presented  by  Rev.  Dr.  Cooper,  the  chairman,  which 
provides  :  "That  women  who  gave  themselves  to  the  mission- 
ary work  be  placed  on  the  foil  for  the  benefactions  of  this 
Board  upon  the  same  condition  as  ministers." 


216  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

It  is  a  matter  of  further  interest  to  us  that  the  important 
movement  among  the  elders  was  inaugurated  in  Cincinnati  at 
the  same  meeting  and  in  this  house,  and  which' was,  we  doubt 
not,  largely  due  to  the  earnest  advocacy  of  Cincinnati  elders. 
A  year  later  Dr.  Cattell,  speaking  of  the  movement,  says  in  his 
report  to  the  General  Assembly  : 

"The  impulse  thus  happily  given  to  this  sacred  cause  has 
been  felt  throughout  the  church  in  widely  distant  parts  of  the 
land.  Conferences  with  the  elders  were  held  by  the  secretary 
in  many  places,  and  everywhere  the  subject  was  received  with 
interest  and  with  the  growing  conviction  that  the  Board  of 
Relief  has  a  peculiar  claim  upon  the  eldership.  A  number  of 
elders'  conventions  have  been  held,  in  which  the  subject  has 
been  discussed  and  the  action  of  the  elders  at  Cincinnati 
heartily  indorsed." 

An  outgrowth  of  this  work  was  the  establishment  of  the 
"Presbyterian  Home"   for  disabled  ministers  and  widows. 

In  1883,  Dr.  Alexander  M.  Bruen  presented  to  the  Board 
a  property  in  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J.,  comprising  eleven  and  one- 
half  acres  of  land  with  substantial  buildings  containing  eighty 
rooms,  as  a  Presbyterian  home  for  disabled  ministers  and  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  deceased  ministers.  This  institution 
meets  a  long  felt  want  in  the  Church  and  has  thus  far  proven 
a  very  effective  and  useful  branch  of  the  machinery  of  the 
Board. 

Another  important  movement,  far  reaching  in  its  influence 
and  benefits,  was  the  raising  of  the  "  Centennial  Fund."  It 
originated  with  the  Assembly  sitting  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  Cincinnati,  in  1885.  The  committee  then  and  there 
appointed  to  provide  for  the  proper  observance  of  the  Cen- 
tennial of  the  General  Assembly,  and  which  reported  a  year 
later,  presented  a  plan  for  raising  an  endo\vment  fund  of 
$1,000,000  as  an  addition  to  the  permanent  funds  of  this  Board. 
Rev.  Dr.  George  P.  Hays,  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  ; 
Rev.  Dr.  George  C.  Heckman,  of  the  Avondale  Church  ;  Rev. 
Dr.  W.  C.  Roberts,  of  Lane  Seminary  ;  Rev.  Dr.  W.  E.  Moore, 
of  Columbus,  O.,  with  elders  William  Howard  Neff,  of  the 
Second   Presbyterian  Church,  and   William   McAlpin,  of  this 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  217 

church,  were  made  the  Executive  Committee  and  did  efficient 
and  laborious  work  in  pushing  the  movement.  Dr.  Hays  was 
the  chairman,  Mr.  McAlpin,  secretai-y,  and  Dr.  Roberts,  treas- 
urer. Dr.  Heckman  was  appointed  the  traveling  secretary 
and  agent. 

This  movement  added  immediately  to  the  Permanent  Fund 
of  the  Board  $606,266,  and  the  Assembly  of  1889  voted  special 
acknowledgements  to  Dr.  George  P.  Hays,  chairman,  and 
William  H.  Roberts,  treasurer,  for  the  laborious  and  faithful 
performance  of  the  duties  assigned  them,  rendered  without 
pecuniary  compensation.  The  Assembly  also  recognized  with 
gratitude  to  God  the  spirit  of  liberality  and  generous  con- 
secration manifested  by  all  our  people.  The  Permanent  Fund 
now  amounts  to  more  than  $1,100,000,  and  the  mterest  upon  it 
is  used  for  the  support  of  ministers  retired  after  long  and  hon- 
orable service. 

The  development  of  the  work  of  this  Board  is  shown  in 
the  following  comparative  statement  : 

Vear.  Beneticiaries,  Amiuint  Disbursed. 

1721      2  persons, .$  35.00. 

1853 8  families, $        675.00. 

1870 1«)8  families, 36,96595. 

1871 267       "  51,129.42. 

1888 584      "  .113,669.15. 

1890 624      "  131,741.55. 

Within  the  limit  of  my  time  it  has  been  impossible  for  me 
to  give  more  than  an  outline  of  the  history  of  this  important 
Board.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  work  thus  far  accomplished 
will  endure  and  in  the  coming  years  will  bring  its  annual 
shower  of  comfort,  blessing  and  reward  to  many  faithful  ser- 
vants. It  will  follow  in  parallel  lines  with  the  other  activities 
of  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  the  loving,  grateful  tribute  of 
a  grand,  vigorous,  working  church  to  those  who  have  reached 
the  autumn  of  life  as  servants  in  the  Master's  vineyard.  Who 
have  given  all  for  Christ  and  now  helpless  and  disabled  they 
only  wait,  trusting  in  the  promises,  and  while  they  wait  the 
Board  of  Relief  supplies  their  temporal  needs.  Let  us  see  to 
it  that  the  means  are  provided. 


BUSINESS   TACT   IN   CHURCH   MANAGEMENT. 


By  Peter   Rudolph  Neff. 


Friends,  it  gives  me  sincere  pleasure  to  say  to  you  that  all 
that  I  have  to  say  upon  this  subject  will  not  occupy  more  than 
six  minutes  of  your  time.  The  importance  of  promptness  and 
regularity  in  church  business  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  It 
is  absolutely  essential  that  the  minister  should  enter  the  pulpit 
with  his  mind  free  from  financial  cares,  and  also  when  he  is  in 
his  study  and  upon  his  round  of  pastoral  visitation  his  mind 
should  be  at  rest  as  to  his  financial  condition.  It  is  the  duty 
of  those  in  charge  of  the  money  matters  of  the  church  to  see 
first  that  the  salary  promised  is  sufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of 
the  pastor  and  his  family  ;  second,  that  it  should  be  paid 
promptly  on  a  specified  day  of  each  month.  It  is  a  serious 
error  of  judgment  to  engage  a  minister  at  the  lowest  salary  at 
which  he  can  possibly  subsist.  It  is  wise  for  a  congregation  to 
do  all  in  its  power  to  make  the  position  of  a  minister  one  of 
independence.  It  will  prove  a  good  investment  for  them  and 
for  their  children,  if  they  will  keep  him  always  at  his  best. 
So  also  with  the  others,  whose  services  require  that  the  sum 
paid  them  should  be  a  compensation  for  the  services  rendered. 
It  should  not  be  a  n^ere  pittance. 

The  purchases  made  for  the  church,  of  furniture,  fuel,  etc. 
should  be  paid  for  promptly.     The  credit  of  the  church  should 
be  such  as  to  command  the  lowest  price,  and  the  terms  on  the 
part  of  the   vender  of  the  purchases  should  be  for  cash  in  all 
these  matters. 

Business  tact  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  sharp  practice, 
which  prevails  in  some  quarters,  where  the  desire  is  to  get 
something  for  nothing.  One  must  cut  the  coat  according  to 
the  cloth.  For  a  congregation  which  can  pay  only  two  thous- 
and  dollars  to   promise  three   thousand  or  four  thousand  is  a 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  219 

manifest  mistake  ;  just  as  great  a  mistake  as  it  would  be  for 
such  a  congregation  to  pay  only  one  thousand.  It  is  very  im- 
portant in  regulating  church  expenses,  that  two  things  should 
be  clearly  understood.  First,  that  none  is  too  poor  to  give 
something,  and  second,  that  a  fair  per  cent,  of  one's  income  is 
what  duty  requires.  Sometimes  one's  judgment  of  his  own 
ability  is  not  so  great  as  his  judgment  of  the  ability  of  his 
neighbor  to  give.  The  idea  that  we  are  to  give  only  that  part 
of  our  income  which  we  cannot  spend  ourselves  is  a  mistaken 
one.  It  is  the  duty  of  members  of  the  church  to  give  liberally 
and  regularly.  I  believe  it  should  be  impressed  upon  their 
minds  that  it  is  as  much  their  duty  to  give  as  it  is  to  go  to 
church.  In  this  connection  I  want  to  say  that  in  my  opinion 
there  is  a  laxity  in  regard  to  the  expense  of  the  Sunday-school 
which  would  not  be  if  every  one  in  the  matter  of  the  Sunday- 
school  felt  like  myself;  that  is,  that  it  is  not  a  separate  insti- 
tution, but  that  its  expenses  should  be  defrayed  from  the  general 
fund  with  regularity  and  promptness. 

Now,  in  conclusion,  let  me  say  if  it  be  true  that  we  are 
not  our  own,  but  have  been  bought  with  a  price,  it  follows  that 
the  business  ability  which  abounds  in  all  our  congregations 
should  be  faithfully  used  in  the  service  of  Him  who  has  done 
so  much  for  us. 


THE  DOWN  TOWN  CHURCH. 


By  William  H.  Morgan. 


The  theme  upon  which  T  address  you,  and  the  one  of  so 
much  importance  to  the  spiritual  interests  of  our  city,  "The 
Down  Town  Church,"  may  be  subdivided  and  considered 
under  three  such  divisions,  viz  : 

1.  What  is  the  Down  Town  Church? 

2.  How  came  the  Down  Town  Church? 

3.  Present  condition  and  destiny  of  the  Down  Town 
Church  and  the  responsibility  therefor  and  thereto  of  suburban 
church  people. 

1.  The  Down  Town  Church  is  ths  church  under  the 
hills.  One  hundred  years  have  scarcely  sped  away  since  the 
organization  of  the  first  church  in  our  city  ;  how  small  the 
fragment  of  time  and  how  infinitely  small  the  portion  of 
eternity.  It  is  probably  true  that  none  of  us  know  of  a  man 
or  woman  whose  memory  can  span  this  period,  but  most  of  us 
can  take  in  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  or  enough  of  it  to 
enable  us  to  form  some  definite  conception  of  the  whole.  It- is 
this  conception  that  creates  in  our  minds  the  wonder  at  the 
changes  that  have  been  wrought  upon  the  ground  whereon  we 
now  stand  and  the  area  covered  by  our  city,  and  the  greatly 
changed  conditions  of  things  in  our  midst,  from  the  pavements 
beneath  our  feet  to  the  sanctuaries  in  which  we  worship^ 
Three  generations  of  architecture  have  come  and  gone,  but  un- 
like the  generations  of  man,  their  length  has  successively  in- 
creased in  duration.  The  houses  in  which  we  live  and  the 
shops  in  which  we  labor  have  arisen  and  disappeared,  only  to  * 
be  succeeded  by  greater  and  grander  ones  ;  and  this  is  as  it 
should  be.  Where  is  the  man  of  to-day  who  lives  and  moves 
and  has  his  being  as  did  the  fathers  who  sleep  beneath  these 
walls?    And  yet  where  is  he  who  does  not  recall  with  pleasure 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  221 

the  good  old  days  when  he  was  young,  not  to  speak  of  the 
days  when  his  sires  were  young?  Unhappy  is  the  man  who 
has  no  "good  old  times"  to  which  to  refer,  no  memories  tinged 
with  the  brightness  of  receding  blessings  as  they  take  their 
flight. 

Now  what  or  where  are  the  good  old  days  to  which  you 
and  I  love  to  recur?  Can  we  not  conceive  of  the  inhabitants 
of  our  frontier  city  turning  toward  the  primitive  sanctuary, 
with  its  puncheon  walls  and  floors,  windows  sufficiently  ele- 
vated to  afford  protection  from  the  gaze  and  aim  of  the  vaga- 
bond Indian,  its  pews  of  slabs  and  its  ffoors  carpetless  ;  the  tin 
lanterns  in  the  friendly  belfry  ;  its  roster  containing  the  names 
of  most  of  the  villagers,  whose  place  of  devotion  was  in  the 
midst  of  traffic,  fashion  and  learning,  and  whose  praises  to  the 
Most  High  ascended  from  pure  hearts  unaccompanied  by 
sound  of  organ  or  viol. 

Could  some  of  these  ancestors  with  mortal  ears  catch  the 
phrase,  "Down  Town  Church,"  how  carefully  would  they 
search  their  vocabularies  for  such  a  term  ;  how^  readily  would 
their  imaginations  compass  the  boundaries  of  their  city  ; 
Seventh  street  on  the  north,  Deer  Creek  on  the  east,  Ohio  river 
on  the  south,  and  Western  Row  on  the  west.  The  church  was 
the  hub  from  which  radiated  the  influences  governing  and 
giving  direction  to  society.  But  the  time  when  the  entire 
population  could  uniformly  arise  and  prepare  for  Sabbath  wor- 
ship, guided  in  their  movements  by  the  sound  of  the  church 
bell,  has  passed  ;  gradually  its  peals,  which  at  first  were  all 
powerful,  became  more  and  more  indistinct  as  the  waves  of 
moving  society  constantly  spread  from  centre  to  an  increasing 
circumference,  until  they  dashed  against  the  rocky  bases  of  the 
imperial  hills  skirting  the  settlement.  The  original  church 
became  too  small,  even  after  various  rebuildings,  and  in  our 
own  denomination  "westward  the  star  of  empire  took  its 
way." 

Although  stations  multiplied  and  fields  increased  in  num- 
ber and  extent,- still  the  Down  Town  Church  had  as  yet  no 
separate   and  distinct  existence.     Distance  had  not  become  so 


222  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

great  as  to  intimate  a  church  removal  or  a  removal  of  church* 
membership.  Hives  v^ere  only  so  many  svsrarms  from  the  parent 
home,  and  labor  prospered  and  results  increased.  Business 
had  not  so  much  encroached  upon  church  and  family  domain  as 
to  order  removal  from  the  city.  Indeed  the  modern  tide  of  affairs 
with  its  impetuosity  had  not  yet  come  ;  but  the  signs  w^ere 
unmistakably  approaching  and  the  horizon  was  portentous  of 
coming  serious  movements.  The  sw^addling  bands  of  the  infant 
city  must  be  relieved  and  opportunity  afforded  for  expansion 
of  limb  and  lungs  ;  and  a  desperate  movement  must  be  made 
for  more  room  in  all  the  spheres  of  municipal  life.  The  tide 
of  population  became  resistless,  and  the  hills  and  valleys  here- 
tofore unmolested  by  the  habitation  of  the  city  man  were  in" 
vaded.  Commerce,  that  servant  of  civilization  and  hand-maid 
of  prosperity,  must  pass  onward  and  upward,  and  her  march  is 
as  irresistible  as  Alpine  avalanche.  She  must  have  room,  and 
all  obstacles,  whether  of  church  or  society,  must  be  removed 
without  an  attempt  to  impede  her  progress.  The  cessation  of 
the  church  bells  followed  ;  walls  were  razed  and  foundations 
obliterated  and  the  temple  of  traffic  reared  her  imposing  form 
upon  the  sites  heretofore  occupied  by  the  more  humble  temple 
of  God  ;  and  soon  the  church  steeples  were  seen  and  the  church 
bells  were  heard  through  the  valleys  and  upon  the  hilltops* 
Many  of  the  former  dwellers  in  the  "  Bottoms  "  carried  with 
them  determinations  to  continue  their  city  membership.  This 
bold  determination,  born  of  the  best  of  intentions,  like  all 
things  human,  soon  began  to  manifest  symptoms  of  weak- 
ness and  the  temptations  of  each  succeeding  year  preyed  upon 
it  until  the  distances  became  too  great,  the  inconveniences 
too  numerous  and  the  necessities  too  urgent  to  be  longer  re- 
sisted, and  the  withdrawal  of  the  first  membership  from  city 
to  country  was  the  first  foundation  stone  of  the  "Down 
Town  Church."  The  erection  of  the  suburban  church  was 
virtually  the  building  or  establishing  of  the  said  Down  Town 
Church. 

In  this  recital  will  be  discovered  the  answer  to  my  first 
proposition  and  my  second  is  like  unto  it,  "  How  came  the 
Down  Town  Church?" 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  223 

We  may  add  that  the  foundation  being  laid  the  super- 
structure was  of  rapid  construction,  for  while  the  suburban 
sanctuary  was  being  reared,  it  gave  position  and  character  to 
the  unborn  church.  A  sifting  process  began  and  a  force  akin 
to  the  repulsion  of  the  atoms  of  matter  was  generated  and  has 
continued  even  to  this  day.  The  deserted,  obliterated  and 
demolished  churches  struggled  and  have  struggled  fiercely  for 
existence,  but  their  surcease  has  told  the  story  of  the  ''Down 
Town  Church."  The  consolidation  of  others  emphasize  the 
truth  of  the  cause  and  effect.  The  Down  Town  Church,  like 
the  down  town  citizen,  must  hustle  for  an  existence,  feeble 
though  it  be.  The  religious  ozone,  so  necessary  to  spiritual 
life,  if  not  of  a  diluted  character,  is  not  of  great  abundance, 
and  as  with  its  physical  type,  so  thin,  there  must  be  depend- 
ence upon  an  artificial  supply  from  the  resources  of  those  who 
have  to  spare  ;  and  this  sentiment  introduces  us  to  our  third 
and  last  subdivision,  "The  Destiny  of  the  Down  Town 
Church." 

Of  one  thing  we  may  rest  assured,  viz  :  there  will  con- 
tinue to  exist  such  an  institution  and  its  existence,  like  other 
human  institutions,  must  be  maintained  by  men  and  money. 
It  need  not  be  pi-esented  here  for  argument  that  the  suburban 
movement  is  mostly  among  those  who  hold  the  treasures,  while 
the  work  is  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Down  Town  man.  The 
loss  of  the  men — and  in  this  town  I  include  the  women — is  one 
factor  in  the  problem  of  the  Down  Town  Church  and  the  loss 
of  the  money  is  the  other  ;  but  the  removal  of  ourselves  bodily 
from  the  city  church  does  not  of  a  necessity  involve  our  re- 
moval financially.  We  may  be  represented  in  the  work  by 
our  cash  contributions  if  not  by  our  personal  presence. 

The  Down  Town  Church  is  a  mighty  factor  in  the  spiritual 
education  of  the  masses,  and  the  hunger  and  thirsting  of  these 
must  receive  the  attention  of  the  gospel  messenger,  and  they 
really  need  the  best  that  can  be  furnished.  We  know  that  it  is 
pleasant  and  beautiful  to  serve  God  at  all  times,  and  especially 
is  it  pleasant  to  sit  in  His  house  in  the  quiet  and  peace  of 
suburban  life  where  we  may  mingle  our  voices  with  those  of 
the  birds,  and   where  we  can   look    up  and   see   Him    through 


224  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

waving  trees  and  clear  blue  sky.  How  readily  our  sentiments 
under  such  inspirations  mingle  with  those  of  the  sweet  singer 
of  Israel,  and  how  worshipful  the  spirit  that  controls  us  at  such 
times.  We  know  that  it  is  not  so  beautiful  to  attempt  such 
devotion  under  the  inspiration  of  the  noisy  milk  wagon,  the 
thundering  horse  car  or  the  Sunday  procession.  We  know  that 
we  cannot  see  God  so  clearly  through  the  murky  sky  of  the 
smoky  city  ;  but  we  can  worship  the  same  and  He  can  hear  us 
the  same  ;  for  His  eye  is  not  dimmed  by  such  clouds  nor  is  His 
ear  confused  by  such  sounds.  All  men  cannot  be  dwellers  in 
the  fields  and  upon  the  hilltops.  The  returns  of  votes  on 
election  days  and  the  reports  of  school  children  both  tell  us 
that  streets  and  houses  alone  do  not  make  our  city,  but  these 
very  streets  and  houses  teem  and  swarm  with  human  life,  and 
the  souls  of  these  must  be  carefully  guarded  and  protected 
against  the  tremendous  attacks  of  Satan.  These  souls  are  those 
upon  which  we  must  draw  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Down 
Town  Church,  and  we  must  not  permit  our  ecstatic  enjoyment 
of  country  church  life  to  entirely  eclipse  our  visions  of  the  city 
brethren,  struggling  for  life  and  light  among  the  turbulent  and 
Godless  that  throng  our  streets  and  crowd  our  places  of  ques- 
tionable enjoyment,  and  against  the  adverse  influences  that 
are  born  of  and  nurtured  by  mvmicipal  life.  The  future  of  the 
Down  Town  Church  is  largely  in  the  hands  and  keeping  of 
the  suburban  brethren.  The  city  Pauls  may  plant  and  culti- 
vate, but  the  country  Apolloses  must  water  and  help  to  nourish* 
Its  future  is  intimately  interwoven  with  that  of  the  suburbs. 
The  relationship  is  intimate  and  inseparable  and  the  subur- 
banite's duty  to  the  city  church  is  not  ended,  in  all  cases,  with 
the  taking  of  a  letter  of  dismissal.  Maybe  there  is  a  financial 
obligation  bearing  down  and  obscuring  the  light  of  his  city 
church  which  he  assisted  in  creating  and  of  whose  fruits  he 
was  a  partaker  to  his  spiritual  growth  and  nourishment.  He 
cannot  escape  from  his  interest  in  that  any  more  than  he  can 
flee  from  the  presence  of  the  Almighty.  It  may  be  that  his 
withdrawal  has  removed  a  strong  pillar  from  the  church,  and 
unless  that  pillar  is  doing  equally  important  duty  in  his  new 
home  there  is  a  lack,  and  some  remains  of  former  obligation  ; 


PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  225 

as  has  been  intimated  this  obligation  may  be  discharged  in  one 
way  or  another,  either  by  his  presence  and  pecuniary  support 
or  by  the  latter  alone.  Frequently  the  laborers  may  be  found, 
but  the  contributors  are  wanting.  If  you  cannot  be  one  of  the 
former  you  may  be  one  of  the  latter,  not  forgetting  that  the 
prayer  of  the  righteous  man  availeth  much  and  we  may  add 
reacheth  far.  It  will  be  plainly  discovered  what  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer  is  his  idea  of  the  solution  of  the  question  of  the 
destiny  of  the  Down  Town  Church.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
course  of  events  has  brought  around  such  an  institution,  and 
equally  certain  that  it  has  its  existence,  is  still,  and  now  what 
shall  we  do  with  it?  Do  what  we  can  ;  sift  from  it  the  spirit- 
ual murkiness  which  threatens  to  eclipse  it  and  throw  around 
it  the  halo  of  christian  spirit  and  let  the  hills  and  the  valleys 
around  us  breathe  upon  it  with  their  blessing  ;  then  will  that 
diadem  which  rests  so  beautifully  and  appropriately  upon  the 
commercial  and  social  brow  of  our  dear  Qiieen  City  be  out- 
stripped by  that  coronet  of  gems  which  overhangs  our  spiritual 
brow,  and  whose  stones  are  the  beautiful  temples  of  God, 
planted  on  the  imperial  hills  that  encircle  our  homes,  and 
whose  care  shall  be  the  humbler  ones  in  the  valley  below.  This 
care  shall  never  cease  until  the  homes  of  the  toilers  have  be- 
come the  habitation  of  the  owls  and  the  bats,  and  the  marts  of 
trade  have  become  the  abodes  of  silence  and  decay.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  shall  the  suburban  church  say  to  the  Down 
Town  Church,  "Am  I  my  brothers'  keeper.?" 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  THE  LAITY. 


By  D.  H.  Baldwin,  Cincinnati,  O. 


Dear  Friends  : 

You  have  heard  so  many  interesting  and  instructive 
speeches  this  afternoon  that  I  feel  as  if  I  need  not  detain  you 
longer.  The  subject  of  the  ministry  of  the  laity  is  certainly 
one  wrhich  might  occupy  one  better  able  to  speak  on  it  than 
myself,  and  I  will  only  glance  at  one  or  two  things  vv^hich  may 
probably  help  us  to  understand  or  realize  it  more  fully,  I  am 
sure  I  cannot  say  anything  which  will  be  new. 

By  the  laity  we  mean  the  whole  church  except  the  clergy. 
In  this  age  and  time  when  the  women  of  the  church  are  so 
active,  so  wide-awake,  so  enterprising  and  so  useful  they  cer- 
tainly constitute  a  very  important  element  of  the  laity.  In 
our  Presbyterian  system,  dear  friends,  we  believe  that  God  in 
his  kingdom  has  assigned  to  every  man  and  to  every  woman 
his  or  her  place.  I  wish  that  could  be  got  into  each  one  of  our 
hearts  and  minds  so  that  we  might  realize  the  importance  of 
it.  We  believe  as  Presbyterians  that  God  makes  no  mistake. 
If  that  is  so,  how  important  it  is  to  understand  the  duties  and 
work  of  the  place  to  which  God  has  appointed  us. 

Now  I  suppose  the  first  thing  we  need  to  do  and  to  realize 
as  Christian  men  and  women  is  to  realize  our  obligation,  our 
responsibility  to  God  and  to  the  church  and  to  our  fellow -men. 
It  is  not  possible  that  there  is  a  Christian  man  or  woman  in 
this  house  not  believing,  as  has  been  so  well  expressed  in  the 
paper  of  Mr.  Neff,  that  we  are  not  our  own,  but  that  we  have 
been  bought  with  a  price,  and  that  price  is  nothing  less  than 
the  son  of  God.  Dear  Christian  friends,  if  we  can  realize 
what  God  has  done  for  us  and  what  he  is  doing  for  us,  what 
he  will  do  for  us  and  what  he  has  promised  to  do  for  us,  if  we 
can  realize   this  we  can  certainly  believe  we  are  under  infinite 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  227 

obligations  to  God  to  give  him  the  best  we  have  ;  not  merely 
part  of  our  property,  part  of  our  time,  but  the  whole  of  it — 
all  that  we  have,  when  we  remember  our  duty  to  the  church. 

God  has  placed  us  among  his  people.  He  has  placed  us 
here  that  we  may  be  useful.  Can  we  ever  do  enough  for  the 
church  ?  Can  we  ever  feel  that  our  obligations  to  the  church 
are  discharged  ?  I  think  not  when  we  remember  as  Christian 
men  and  women  our  obligations  to  a  lost  world.  Now  I  think 
you  will  believe  that  the  laity  are  more  responsible  for  the  con- 
version of  this  sin  cursed  world  than  any  other  class  of  men. 
The  ministry,  of  course,  have  a  wonderful  responsibility  and  I 
believe  they  realize  it,  dear  friends,  a  great  deal  more  than  you 
and  I  of  the  laity  do.  I  say  they  realize  it  much  more  than  we 
of  the  laity.  Let  me  repeat,  if  the  world  is  to  be  saved  it  is  to 
be  done  mainly  through  the  support  of  the  laity.  What  can 
the  ministry  do  without  the  co-operation  of  the  laity?  What 
can  a  general  do  with  an  army  whose  forces  are  disorganized, 
whose  men  are  unwilling  to  obey  his  commands? 

Let  us  ask  ourselves  this  question  i  "  How  are  we  dis- 
charging our  duty  as  members  of  the  Christian  church — as 
laity?"  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  one  or  two  things  that 
we  are  bound  to  do.  You  know  that  it  is  charged  upon  us  as 
♦Presbyterians  that  we  are  unsocial.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
charge  is  true.  At  the  same  time  I  believe  it  is  a  duty  that  is 
greatly  neglected.  •  I  mean  Christian  sociability  as  members  of 
the  same  church.  We  ought  to  know  each  other,  because  if  we 
do  not  know  each  other  we  cannot  be  in  sympathy  with  each 
other.  We  must  think  it  is  a  Christian  privilege  as  well  as  a 
duty  to  know  the  members  of  our  congregation.  Let  us  feel 
that  God  will  increase  our  usefulness  just  in  proportion  as  we 
learn  to  know  each  other  better,  and  become  more  in  sympathy 
with  each  other  in  our  work. 

I  vy^ant  to  speak  of  our  duty  to  strangers.  When  I  came 
to  Cincinnati  thirty-five  years  ago,  I  went  into  a  Presbyterian 
church  of  this  city,  and  I  came  out.  I  went  in  and  I  came  out 
for  two  months  and  nobody  ever  spoke  to  me.  They  were  very 
kind  to  me,  they  were  very  polite.  They  showed  me  to  very 
nice  seats,  but  I  went  in  and   I   came  out  without  feeling   that 


228  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

any  man  or  woman  cared  for  my  soul.  I  said  to  myself:  '''  If 
I  ever  live  in  Cincinnati  and  ever  become  acquainted,  and  if  I 
ever  have  any  influence  in  Cincinnati,  I  will  treat  strangers 
differently  from  that."  Now,  dear  friends,  do  you  believe  that 
a  stranger  ought  to  come  into  this  church  or  any  other  church 
and  go  out  without  some  one  speaking  to  that  person  and  wel- 
coming that  person  with  an  earnest  invitation  to  come  back? 

I  believe  a  great  many  persons  are  lost  to  our  church  by 
the  lack  of  that  simple  courtesy  shown  to  a  stranger.  Where 
would  you  and  I  have  been  if  nobody  had  ever  felt  any  personal 
interest  in  us.'*  We  owe  it  to  the  earnest  heartfelt  interest  of 
some  Christian  man  or  w'oman  ;  we  perhaps  have  been  brought 
to  Christ  in  that  way.  Let  us  practice  this  one  of  the  Christian 
duties  we  owe  to  the  chuVch. 

I  want  to  speak  one  moment  of  the  duty  of  the  laity  to 
the  Sunday-school.  I  think  I  ought  to  speak  plainly  on  that 
subject.  In  all  our  churches  there  are  some  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent, some  of  the  most  devoted  Christian  people,  who  are 
never  seen  in  our  Sunday-schools.  I  want  to  ask  you  if  you 
have  not  mourned  over  the  fact  that  the  boys  and  girls,  as  soon 
as  they  become  of  a  certain  age,  drop  out  of  the  Sunday-school? 
Is  that  not  due  to  the  want  of  interest  manifested  by  the  older 
people  in  the  church?  We  meet  in  the  Sunday-school  to  study* 
the  Bible,  and  to  me  it  is  distressing  that  there  is  so  little 
interest  felt  in  the  study  of  God's  word. 

We,  who  are  professing  to  be  Christians,  how  little  do  we 
labor  to  know  what  Christ  wants  of  us.  •  We  profess  to  love 
him  and  to  have  his  spirit,  and  how  little  do  we  strive  to  know 
what  he  would  have  us  to  do.  I  wish  we  might  have  here  and 
all  over  the  United  States  what  they  have  in  Wales.  There 
the  old  people  and  the  young  people,  all  ages  and  conditions, 
are  found  in  the  Sunday-school.  I  don't  know  how^  some  of  us 
will  feel  when  we  get  to  heaven  if  we  have  not  studied  God's 
word.  Everything  else  that  men  take  an  interest  in  they  study 
about.  As  I  come  down  town  every  morning  I  hear  men  talk- 
ing diligently  about  business,  business,  as  if  the  whole  thing 
for  which  men  were  created  was  just  simply  business.  I  am 
ashamed  of  myself  sometimes  that  I  cannot  talk  to  the  majority 


PRESBYTERIAN    CENTENNIAL.  229 

of  men  on  something  of  more  importance  than  I  do.  That  is 
one  of  the  things  Christian  men  are  to  be  blamed  for — their 
silence  on  religious  things  in  the  company  of  their  fellow-men. 
I  trust  we  shall  have  in  our  church  all  through  this  Presbytery 
a  greater  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Sunday-school.  Give  it 
your  prayer,  your  presence,  and  your  money. 

There  is  another  thing  we  ought  to  think  about.  We 
should  have  more  enthusiasm,  if  you  will  permit  me  to  call  it 
so,  in  regard  to  the  Presbyterian  denomination.  I  remember  a 
few  years  ago,  perhaps  fifteen  years  ago,  when  we  were  at  the 
Sunday-school  Association  of  Hamilton  County  ;  it  had  a  great 
deal  of  influence  in  that  day,  and  Dr.  Wilson  said  that  we  as 
Presbyterians  were  so  liberal  that  we  gave  almost  all  the 
money  and  the  results  went  to  the  other  denominations.  Now 
we  thank  God,  each  of  us,  that  we  have  the  privilege  of  being 
his  people.  I  want  to  thank  God  we  have  the  privilege  of 
being  Presbyterians.  I  believe  you  feel  the  same  way.  If  we 
believe  that  under  God  the  Presbyterian  system  is  the  best 
system  in  the  world  for  the  conversion  of  a  lost  world,  ought 
we  not  to  be  thankful  for  that  privilege? 

'  Just  one  word  with  reference  to  Christians  themselves.  As 
has  been  said  we  are  not  our  own  ;  our  property  is  not  our 
own  ;  our  time  is  not  our  own  ;  we  simply  belong  to  the  Lord, 
who  has  given  us  time  and  property  and  money,  that  we  may 
give  it  to  him.  Now  the  money  is  in  the  hands  of  the  laity^ 
and,  dear  friends,  we  of  the  laity  are  responsible  for  it ;  for 
the  proper  sustaining  of  the  great  enterprises  of  our  church, 
and  perhaps  what  we  need  more  just  now  than  anything  else 
is  a  self-denying  spirit.  I  don't  know  how  you  feel  about  that 
matter,  but  I  know  how  I  have  felt  for  a  long  time.  (You 
will  pardon  me  for  speaking  of  myself.)  I  have  felt  for  a  long 
time  that  I  had  no  right  to  use  my  money  for  unnecessary  dis- 
play, for  unnecessary  luxury.  I  have  felt  we  had  no  right  to 
use  it  for  selfish  desires.  Let  us  remember,  dear  friends,  that 
our  money  should  be  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Christ,  as 
well  as  our  persons  and  time.  The  highest  use  to  which  we 
can  put  our  money  is  to  give  it  for  the  extension  of  his  king- 
dom.    How  often  do  we  see  Christian  families  spend  hundreds 


230  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL, 

of  dollars  for  display  and  give  a  mere  pittance  to  the  church? 
I  wish  this  spirit  of  giving  could  be  gotten  into  your  hearts 
and  into  my  heart,  so  that  we  might  be  willing  to  deny  our- 
selves a  great  many  things.  Remember  what  our  Savior  said  : 
"  Take  up  thy  cross  and  follow  me." 

One  word  more  and  I  am  through.  In  reference  to  the 
support  of  the  ministry.  I  refer  not  only  to  the  money  we 
ought  to  pay.  The  compensation  in  the  majority  of  cases  is 
entirely  too  little.  We  ought  to  see  to  it,  as  has  been  suggested 
here  this  afternoon,  that  the  minister's  support  is  adequate.  I 
speak  also  in  reference  to  his  moral  support.  I  tell  you,  dear 
friends,  we  ought  to  be  loyal  to  our  minister.  I  think  you  have 
seen,  I  know  you  have  seen,  a  great  many  ministers  who  fail 
to  get  the  support  which  ought  to  be  given  them  by  the  laity. 
We  ought  to  go  to  him  and  say  to  him  :  "  I  am  interested  in 
your  work.  I  pray  for  you  every  day."  I  wonder  how  many 
of  you  Christian  men  and  women  pray  for  your  pastor.  If  you 
do  not,  I  trust  you  will.  Go  to  him  and  ask  him  if  he  cannot 
give  you  something  to  do.  Is  it  not  the  tendency  on  the  part 
of  the  laity  to  let  the  ministry  do  all  the  work,  and  we  do  all 
the  fault  finding?  Let  us  give  the  ministry  our  support.  Let 
them  feel  that  they  have  our  hearty  co-operation. 


CELEBRATION  OF  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 


Communion  Sermon  by  Rev.  Wm.  McKibben,  D.  D. 


Your  attention  is  invited  to  the  ordinance,  which  we 
expect  to  celebrate,  as  found  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the 
first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  the  twenty-sixth  verse  : 
*'  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do 
show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come."  "Ye  show  the  Lord's 
death  till  he  come."  There  is  no  question  but  that  our  Lord 
designed  that  whatever  else  might  be  changed  in  the  machinery 
and  appliances  of  the  church,  that  the  ordinance  which  he 
instituted  in  the  upper  chamber  at  Jerusalem  should  be  one  of 
the  abiding  facts  of  the  church's  history,  and  in  these  words  to 
which  you  have  listened  He  puts  upon  this  ordinance  the 
stamp  of  perpetuity,  "as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink 
this  cup,  ye  do  show  the  Lord's  death  till  He  come."  As  we 
look  back  over  the  history  of  the  Christian  chuixh  we  find, 
with  the  exception  of  a  very  small  fraction  of  those  who  are 
entitled  to  the  name  of  disciples  of  Christ,  that  the  church 
universal,  though  it  may  have  misunderstood  the  full  meaning 
of  the  ordinance  at  times,  has  yet  clung  to  it  with  a  tenacity 
which  has  been  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  it  was  one  of  the 
most  precious  of  the  treasures  of  the  church  ;  and  it  does  seem 
to  me  that  there  is  no  ordinance  or  exercise  that  could  be  more 
appropriately  celebrated  upon  this  Centennial  occasion  than 
this  ordinance  ;  for  as  we  look  back  through  the  years  that  are 
gone  to  the  small  band  with  which  this  church  originated,  we 
find  this  ordinance  administered  with  substantially  all  the 
simplicity  and  with  substantially  the  same  forms  which  have 
been  prescribed  in  our  directory  for  worship ;  so  that  this 
ordinance,  if  there  were  nothing  else,  binds  these  one  hundred 


232  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

yeais  together,  binds  every  church  that  has  gone  out  from  this 
church  and  from  the  children  of  this  church  together,  and  as 
we  gather  around  this  table,  I  wish  this  evening  to  ask 
your  attention  for  a  few  minutes  to  some  of  the  things  which 
we  say  to-day  as  our  fathers  said  and  as,  we  trust,  our  children 
will  say  as  the  ordinance  is  administered. 

First,  we  have  here  the  declaration  of  the  faith  of  the 
Christian  church  ;  our  faith  not  merely  that  Jesus  Christ  came 
to  atone  for  the  sins  of  men  and  constitute  the  spiritual  nour- 
ishment of  the  life  which  came  in  under  the  power  of  that 
atonement,  but  to  declare  our  perspnal  resting  in  and  upon  that 
atonement,  our  personal  feeding  upon  that  life  as  our  satis- 
faction with  God  and  our  spiritual  support ;  and  our  fathers 
declared  that  the  blood  in  which  we  trust  for  the  redemption 
of  sins  was  the  blood  in  which  they  trusted.  They  declared, 
as  we  declare,  that  whatever  advances  have  been  made  in 
human  culture,  whatever  enlargement  of  the  domain  of  human 
knowledge,  when  it  comes  to  the  spiritual  nourishment  of  the 
soul,  there  is  but  one  way,  that  which  came  down  from  heaven. 
We  declare  that  the  faith  of  our  fathers  in  the  past  is  our 
faith  ;  that  the  blood  in  which  they  trusted  is  our  atonement ; 
that  this  Christ  is  the  spiritual  food  of  our  souls. 

But  we  declare  not  only  a  faith,  we  declare  a  fellowship. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  that  word  communion,  but  the  coming 
too-ether  of  those  who  have  something  in  common,  and  as  we 
gather  around  this  table,  that  our  fellowship  is  based  upon 
certain  common  interests  and  they  rise  superior  in  their  worth 
to  all  other  things  which  men  hold  in  common. 

We  declare  that  here  is  a  platform  broad  enough  for  all 
mankind  to  stand  upon  ;  the  fellowship  that  comes  from  the 
atonement  of  the  Christ,  the  spiritual  nourishment  of  the  Christ 
and  the  regenerating  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Where  can 
the  world,  as  it  talks  of  universal  brotherhood,  present  a  fellow- 
ship as  broad,  as  human  as  that  just  presented  in  a  common 
Savior  from  a  common  sin  and  exposure  to  Divine  wrath? 

As  we  look  back  over  the  years  that  are  gone  and  join 
hands  with  those  who  have  sat  around  this  table,  we  declare 
that  we  are  one  household  still,  though  some  be   beyond   the 


PRESBYTEUIAN    CENTENNIAL.  233 

flood  and  others  are  waiting  to  pass  over.  We  can  declare 
that  whatever  changes  have  come  this  fellowship  will  abide 
and  the  future  can  bring  no  changes. 

The  name  which  we  have  for  this  ordinance,  sacrament, 
comes  from  the  Latin  sacramentum,  as  you  know,  which  was  a 
Roman  soldier's  oath  that  he  would  never  desert  the  standards 
of  his  legion.  He  was  sworn  to  stand  by  the  colors  even  in 
the  shock  of  battle,  and  when  yielding  under  the  onset  of  the 
foe  and  it  seemed  as  if  all  were  lost,  some  bold  standard  bearer 
would  seize  the  standard  and  rush  into  the  ranks  of  the  foe  and 
plant  it,  call  upon  the  soldiers  to  stand  firm,  and  the  broken 
ranks  would  reform  and  victory  often  would  be  wrested  from 
the  very  jaws  of  defeat. 

I  say  as  we  come  to  this  table,  we  declare  our  allegiance 
to  Christ ;  we  declare  that  we  owe  all  to  Him  ;  we  declare  that 
we  are  His  by  the  purchase  of  His  own  blood  ;  we  declare  that 
this  faith,  with  the  blessed  facts  which  are  its  foundation,  it 
shall  be  our  privilege  and  joy  to  proclaim  to  all  the  world. 

Oh,  as  we  look  back  over  this  hundred  years  in  the  Ohio 
Valley,  we  ask  what  brought  these  pioneer  ministers?  What 
brought  these  men  of  God  into  this  region  west  of  the  Appal- 
achians? It  was  their  allegiance  to  Christ.  It  was  their 
allegiance  to  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  was  their  allegiance  to  this  salvation  needed  by  all  and  satis- 
fying to  all ;  and  by  faith  powerful  to  all  ;  as  soldiers  of  the 
cross  we  carry  on  the  fight.  It  is  the  one  fight, — the  good 
fight. 

Dear  brethren,  this  supper  of  the  Lord  proclaims  a  hope. 
It  is  not  merely  a  commemoration  of  that  which  has  passed,  but 
it  is  a  proclamation  of  that  which  is  to  come.  He  will  no  more 
drink  of  this  cup  till  He  dri'iks  it  with  me  in  the  kingdom  of 
his  father  ;  and  as  we  heard  to-day  all  the  hundreds  and  thous- 
ands that  have  gathered  in  this  city  around  the  communion 
tables,  we  may  say  had  their  origin  in  the  one  which  was 
spread  here  first.  Oh,  what  a  vast  concourse  seem  to  have 
gone  beyond  our  ackowledgement  of  them,  and  yet  as  we  come 
about  this  table  this  evening  we  proclaim  our  belief  in  another 
table,  a  fulfillment  of  this,  when  all  shall  sit  down  together. 


234  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

As  those  who  are  older  have  thought  of  the  faces  that  are 
missed  from  these  tables,  they  have  come  to  feel  that  the  com- 
munion occasion  thus  brings  memories  of  absent  ones.  What 
a  blessed  thought  it  is  that  we  are  moving  forward  to  another 
communion  table,  a  heavenly,  to  the  great  feast  when  we  shall 
sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  those  gathered 
from  the  north,  south,  east  and  west,  with  fathers  and  mothers, 
spiritual  in  the  church.  It  is  then  that  this  ordinance  lays  hold 
of  the  past  and  the  future  and  gathers  up  the  blessed  faith  and 
fellowship,  and  this  allegiance  and  hope  of  the  past  and  of  the 
future. 

The  ones  who  have  gone  are  dead  in  one  sense,  but  they 
live  and  we  shall  all  see  them  face  to  face,  and  we  shall  see 
them  as  a  glorious  company  about  the  throne  of  God. 

Oh,  may  it  be  our  determination  as  we  celebrate  this  feast 
this  night  to  declare  anew  that  upon  this  sacrament  we  rest 
our  hope  of  salvation  and  our  hope  for  the  world's  salvation. 

The  authority  for  the  ordinance  which  is  about  to  be 
administered  is  found  in  the  chapter  from  which  our  text  is 
taken.  Taking  the  bread  and  breaking  it,  he  said  to  his  dis- 
ciples :  "This  is  my  body,  broken  for  you.  This  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me."  Speaking  in  his  name  I  give  you  this  symbol 
of  His  broken  body.     "This  do  in  remembrance  of  me," 


CELEBRATION  OF  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

Address  at  Distribution  of  the  Elements 
By  Rev.  E.  D.  Morris,  D.D.,  L.L.D. 


I  regret  much  that  an  important  duty  laid  upon  me  by  our 
beloved  church  and  requiring  my  attendance  elsewhere  has 
prevented  me  from  sharing  in  the  peculiar  festivities  of  this 
week,  especially  from  receiving  into  my  own  spirit  the  happy 
and  holy  impressions  which  such  a  celebration  as  this  is  fitted 
to  convey.  For  I  really  think  that  all  our  lives  grow  better, 
stronger,  and  purer  when  they  are  thus  associated  historically 
with  a  great  and  noble  past.  It  is  fitting  that  these  services 
should  close  with  what  we  must  regard  as  the  characteristic 
act  of  our  holy  religion,  and  I  think  it  is  especially  fitting  that 
this  final  service  should  be  in  the  evening  hour,  for  we  call 
this  blessed  sacrament  a  supper.  Our  German  friends  preserve 
the  distinction  a  little  more  closely  in  their  phrase,  "  Das 
Heilige  Abendmahl,"  the  holy  evening  meal. 

The  supper  is  the  meal  to  be  enjoyed  at  the  close  of  day 
after  the  labor  and  struggle  and  burden  of  the  day  are  over, 
and  its  duties  and  cares  are  ended.  What  a  happy  conclusion 
it  brings  into  the  life  of  man.  You  remember  that  beautiful 
sketch  which  Macaulay  gives  of  an  evening  in  a  Roman  home  : 

When  the  oldest  cask  is  opened  ' 

And  the  largest  lamp  is  lit, 
When  the  chestnuts  glow  in  the  embers, 

And  the  kid  turns  on  the  spit, 
When  the  young  and  old  in  circle 

Around  the  fire-brands  close. 
When  the  girls  are  weaving  baskets 

And  the  lads  are  shaping  bows. 

When  the  good  man  mends  his  armour 

And  trims  his  helmet's  plume, 
When  the  good  wife's  shuttle  merrily 

Goes  flashing  through  the  loom." 


236  PRESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL. 

You  remembei"  that  still   more  touching  and   impressive 

sketch  which  Burns  has  given  us  in  his  Saturday  night  of  the 

Scotch  cotter  as 

"He  wales  a  portion  with  judicious  care, 

And,  'Let  us  worship  God,'  he  says  with  solemn  air." 

Well  did  the  poet  say  that  "  From  scenes  like  these  old 
Scotia's  grandeur  springs,  that  makes  her  loved  at  home,  revered 
abroad."  But  oh,  where  in  Roman  history  or  Scottish  story  was 
there  ever  a  holy  evening  meal  like  that  of  Jesus  and  His  dis- 
ciples. Perchance  at  this  very  hour  the  little  company  were 
gathered  in  that  upper  chamber.  The  tender  and  melting 
words  we  have  preserved,  the  deep  black  shadow  of  coming 
grief  and  separation,  how  they  come  back  to  us.  The  great 
thought  which  should  fill  our  minds  at  this  peculiarly  sacred 
hour  is  the  thought  of  the  present  Christ. 

As  I  came  into  this  sanctuary  and  looked  out  on  the 
firmament  which  so  recently  had  been  overcast  with  clouds,  I 
observed  that  the  wind  had  blown  away  every  cloud  and  left 
the  stars  in  their  clear  shining  everywhere.  My  thoughts  went 
back  to  an  evening  to  which  I  hardly  dare  to  advert,  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  when  my  beloved  father  died  with 
his  head  on  this  breast  of  mine.  I  saw  the  last  trace  of  life,  I 
watched  the  feeble  flutter  of  the  pulse,  I  received  into  my  soul 
his  last  loving  look,  I  laid  him  down  upon  his  pillow  to  sleep 
the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking  on  earth.  As  a  relief  from 
the  intense  pressure  of  such  an  experience,  I  went  out  into  the 
garden  and  the  stars  were  shining.  Wonderfully  near  they 
seemed  and  wonderfully  precious,  and  I  thought  of  that  life 
from  which  mine  had  come,  ended  on  earth  and  gone  into  the 
other  above  among  the  stars  somewhere,  into  the  presence  of 
God.  But  as  we  gather  here  and  look  back  over  a  hundred 
years,  how  much  of  that  there  is  to  think  of.  The  pastors  of 
this  church  and  its  officers  gone  away  among  the  stars,  those 
who  assembled  here  for  a  whole  generation,  for  two,  for  three 
generations,  and  who  sat  at  this  table  and  shared  in  this  feast 
gone  away  somewhere  among  the  stars  with  God.  They  have 
gone.  How  silent  the  stars  are,  never  telling  you  any  story 
except  the  story  of  eternal  existence.     How  silent  those   dear 


WlESBYTERIAN     CENTENNIAL.  237 

friends  are.  But  there  is  one  thing  we  know  ;  we  have  a 
present  Christ.  They  are  with  God,  He  is  with  us  just  as 
truly  as  He  was  with  our  fathers.  With  undiminished  streugtii 
of  love,  with  an  unchanged  and  unchangeable  power  and  grace, 
Christ  is  present  with  us.  And  these  are  the  signs  ;  this 
broken  bread  the  sign  of  His  body  broken  ;  this  wine  poured 
out  the  sign  of  His  blood  shed  for  us.  He  is  here  ;  we  cannot 
see  Him,  we  cannot  feel  Him,  but  we  know  He  is  here.  Oh, 
Christ  we  know  that  Thou  art  here  ! 

And  now  what  have  we  to  do  ?  You  remember  that  story 
about  Jonathan  Edwards,  when  he  was  dying.  He  had  been 
elected  to  the  presidency  of  Princeton  College,  and  had  but 
just  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  high  station.  He  had  been 
inoculated  with  the  small  pox  virus  in  order  to  preserve  him- 
self from  a  fatal  attack  in  another  form.  His  enfeebled  frame 
had  yielded  to  the  virus,  and  to  the  sorrow  of  all  the  great  man 
was  dying,  and  what  added  to  the  pathos  of  it  was  the  fact 
that  his  wife  whom  he  loved,  and  whose  love  for  him,  whose 
exceeding  love  for  him,  is  a  gem  in  the  crown  of  American 
womanhood,  was  far  away  among  the  hills  of  western  Massa- 
chusetts. His  children  were  there  too.  He  was  dying  among 
strangers.  After  leaving  his  message  for  the  woman  he  loved, 
he  turned  his  face  away  from  all  about  him  and  said  :  "  Now 
where  is  Jesus  of  Nazareth?  My  first,  my  last,  my  best  friend?" 

I  would  like  at  the  close  of  this  holy  occasion  to  have 
every  one  of  us,  the  ministers,  the  elders  of  the  churches  and 
all  the  membership  of  the  various  churches  here  assembled, 
I  would  like  to  have  each  one  of  us  turn  away  now  for  a 
moment  from  the  friends  that  are  gone  and  from  all  earthly 
associations,  and  say  out  of  the  deeps  of  our  being,  "  Where, 
oh  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  where  art  Thou,  my  first,  my  last,  my 
best  friend  ?"  This  is  the  evening  hour,  but  there  is  to  come  a 
morning  after  it.  There  will  be  an  earthly  morning  for  us, 
there  will  be  a  morning  of  work  to  come  when  we  pass  out  of 
this  holy  fellowship,  this  quiet  sanctuary  to  face  the  duties  of 
our  earthly  life.  There  will  be  a  morning  of  trial  for  us,  when 
all  our  faith  and  courage  and  conseci-ation  will  be  tested  to  the 
uttermost.     There  will  come  a  morning  when  the  task  of  earth 


238  PHESnYTEUIAN     CENTEXMAt.. 

is  done,  the  last  trial  and  difficulty  finished,  and  the  day  shall 
close  your  life  and  mine.  Where  is  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  will  he 
the  outcry  of  our  hearts  in  that  day,  our  first,  last  and  best 
friend.  But  there  is  the  promise  of  our  Lord  which  1  trust  we 
shall  carry  away  with  us,  each  one,  as  we  go  out  from  this 
sanctuary,  and  the  peculiar  experiences  of  this  week.  "I  will 
drink  it  no  more  with  you,''  said  He, — you  may  almost  see 
Him  taking  up  the  cup  with  the  ineffably  tender  look  of  His, 
with  that  voice  we  know  must  have  been  sweeter  than  all  other 
voices, — "till  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  the  kingdom  of  my 
father."  It  was  a  pledge,  Christ's  pledge,  the  master's  pledge, 
not  to  the  disciples  only,  but  to  you  and  me.  "I  will  drink  it 
new  with  you  in  the  kingdom  of  my  father."  Let  us  take  that 
pledge  in  our  hearts  this  sacred  moment,  and  as  I  offer  you  all 
who  are  disciples  of  Christ,  this  wine  which  is  the  emblem  of 
His  blood  shed  for  us,  let  each  one  of  you  take  it  as  the  master's 
own  pledge  of  the  feast  and  fellowship  far,  oh  far  beyond  our 
utmost  power  to  conceive.  A  feast  and  fellowship  with  Him 
in  His  own  kingdom. 

A  hundred  years  hence  every  one  of  us — and  long  before 
that — will  be  there.  A  hundred  years  hence,  and  long,  long 
before  that,  we  shall  have  tasted  the  new  wine  with  the  Savior 
Himself  in  the  kingdom  of  His  father.  I  invite  you  in  His 
name  to  that  blessed  feast  on  high.  So  receive  this  cup,  remem- 
bering that  as  often  as  you  do  this,  ye  do  show  forth  the  death 
of  the  Master,  and  the  life  of  the  Master  and  the  blessed  sal- 
vation He  has  brought  into  the  world,  till  He  come. 


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